Dry Land
by Jackie Wepps
Summary: It wasn't exactly what you'd call Makoto's lucky day when Haruka fell down the stairs and broke his wrist. Now he is facing an entire month with only one taks. Keep Haruka away from the water. Now that is easier said than done. (Hints of RinHaru and MakoHaru if you REALLY wish to see them)
1. Monday - August 18th

**Hi! So this is my first story for Free only. I don't really have much to say about it for now. Just that I hope you'll all enjoy it and please check out those two stories I wrote for Free and Fairy Tail. **

**Each chapter will contain the happenings of one day only. However they might refer to things happening at other days that are not included. **

**I apologize for any mistakes that might be and hope it is not too disturbing. It should be corrected though. (Most of it anyway)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Monday - August 18th**

It was a regular day at Iwatobi High. Tachibana Makoto and Nanase Haruka were walking down the hallway in the direction of the roof. Makoto was really excited to tell something and Haru could tell that from the expression on his friend's face.

Makoto took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.

"So… My family are gonna go camping in two weeks. We're going to camp by a lake and my parents say that you can come along if you want," Makoto smiled already knowing the answer. He'd also told his parents that he most likely won't have to ask.

Haruka nodded.

They turned a corner and walked up a set of stairs. Makoto smiled. The nod was as good as an "I'd love to come along" when it came from Haru.

"I'll tell them that then. Though we're gonna leave on Friday morning so we'll miss school that day," Makoto said.

They were half way up the stairs when Nagisa came running towards them from the top of the stairs. "Haru-chan! Mako-chan!" he yelled. His face was shining so brightly with happiness it would put the sun to shame. He ran down towards Makoto and Haruka and hit Haru full force causing both of them to fall down the stairs.

"Haru! Nagisa!" Makoto yelled as he turned to see his two friends at the bottom of the stairs.

"Nagisa-kun!" Rei came running to the top of the stairs, when he saw Haru and Nagisa lying at the bottom of the stairs it didn't take him long to figure out what had happened and both he and Makoto rushed down to the two boys on the floor.

Haru had landed on the floor with Nagisa on top of him. He had a wrist stuck under him between the floor and his body. Nagisa had his head resting on the older boy's chest but now he sat up, his magenta eyes looked terrified at Haru.

"Haru-chan, are you okay?" he asked looking at his friend as he sat up and got off of Haruka.

"Lay off with the –chan already," was the comment before Haruka got up himself.

"Haru?" Makoto looked concerned at his friend. "Are you okay?"

Haru nodded letting that be enough to answer Makoto's question.

Rei was already in the process of inspecting Nagisa for anything that could've happened to his body during the fall. He was grateful when he found the boy to be unharmed.

Makoto also made an attempt to check Haru for anything that could've happened but before he could get very far with that, the other pulled away.

"I'm fine," Haru sighed.

"If you say so," Makoto said though he wasn't sure he really believed his friend for a change.

* * *

"You better take notes to what I'm saying," the teacher said causing everyone in class to grab a pen and paper. Their teacher said some important things and everyone took notes.

Makoto was eying Haruka through the corner of his eye. To him it appeared that the other had some difficulty writing though it wasn't easy to tell. The other's face was expressionless; the only way to see it was the way he held his right wrist.

* * *

As the afternoon went by the signs of something being wrong with Haru got more and more obvious. Makoto got more worried for each sign the other dropped and when school finally finished he'd made up his mind.

"We should have you checked out at the hospital," he told Haruka as they left the building on their way to the pool for swimming.

"I'm fine," Haru said once again. The phrase had started to annoy Makoto to no end because it was obvious to everyone that Haru was NOT fine.

"Let's see how practice goes but I can't help but worry that something's wrong," he sighed as they made it to the pool.

Haruka had only been in the water for half a minute or so when Rei walked up to Makoto with a worried look on his face as he would eye Haru every other moment.

"What's wrong with Haruka-senpei?" Rei asked "His style in swimming is different than usual"

Makoto nodded. "I don't know but I've noticed it too," he answered while looking out at his friend in the pool.

"Do you think it has something to do with the fall he and Nagisa-kun took down the stairs earlier?" Rei asked as Nagisa also joined the two.

"I'm afraid so,"

"Someone should stop Haru-chan," Nagisa said. "He's in pain,"

Makoto hadn't noticed until Nagisa pointed it out to them, but the younger boy was right. The pain was obvious on Haruka's face at this point.

"Haru!" he called out to the other. "Get out, we're going to the hospital."

Makoto didn't notice this but he had a strict tone to his voice that was unusual for him to have that caused Haru to get out of the water just at that point instead of waiting until he had finished swimming or thought they'd been waiting long enough.

Haru got out of the water and got himself dressed and only five minutes after Makoto had told him to get out of the water, he was ready to go.

Makoto apologized to the others for not being able to stay and practice with them to which they answered that it was fine and then he and Haru left to the hospital.

The walk to the hospital only took about twenty minutes and since there was nobody waiting to be checked out when they got there, they got to see a doctor within ten more minutes. Makoto was glad it went so fast because over the afternoon he had almost grown worried sick about his best friend.

The doctor scanned Haru's wrist which Haru had told hurt a bit and they didn't have to wait long for a result to come from the scanning.

"It's nothing too fancy," the doctor said. "It's just a broken wrist."

Even if it was 'nothing fancy' as the doctor so friendly put it Makoto was still worried about his friend and the news didn't help too much.

"What does that mean?" Makoto asked when Haru didn't say a word.

"I'd like to put your wrist in plaster, Nanase," the doctor looked at Haru who nodded knowing he didn't really have much of a choice despite the doctor made it sound that way.

And so the doctor put Haru's wrist in plaster while Haru barely even bothered to look but was much more busy studying Makoto's expression.

"You don't have to worry," Haru said causing Makoto look at him.

"I can't help it," Makoto smiled.

"It could've been worse," the doctor said. "The bone has only cracked. You only need to wear this for about a month from now on"

"Doctor?" Makoto looked at the doctor. "Is there anything we need to remember due to the plaster?"

The doctor nodded. "Even if the plaster is strong you shouldn't use your wrist too much, strain it," he said "But most importantly the plaster must not get wet, that means no contact with water"

Both boys looked terrified at the doctor but especially Haruka. He couldn't believe he could not have contact with water for a month. It was so much it was unbearable.

"So… can he still take a bath and such?" Makoto asked.

"That's permitted" The doctor smiled kindly at the teen. "But he has to make sure the plaster doesn't get into the water, that's what is to not happen,"

Even if it was just a broken wrist it seemed to be trouble enough for Makoto. In a school with a pool nearby, with Haruka's habit of soaking in the bathtub and with the camp by the lake coming up then what was he supposed to do?

* * *

**I bet stories like these are nothing new to anyone. **

**Also another matter that I forgot about. I don't know what it feels like or what it takes to break a bone even if both a friend of mine and my younger sister have both had a broken wrist once (just like Haru) I have never really been able to understand what it was like. And I have never had a broken bone myself for that matter. **

**Putting all that aside, thanks for reading this first chapter of a much longer story. It will be continued on an almost daily basis (as much as it's possible) so that's about it. I've already written the entire thing.**

**Please feel FREE to review, favorite and follow (whichever you wish)**

**Jackie**


	2. Tuesday - August 19th

**Tuesday - August 19th **

Makoto had been sleeping over at Haruka's place that night to make sure Haru would not get the plaster wet while soaking in the bathtub. He was still worried about his friend so much that it was difficult for him to let Haruka out of his sight.

This morning when he woke up he found Haruka's bed to be empty. He already knew where to look for the other male and went directly to the bathroom and walked in.

"I knew I'd find you here," Makoto smiled and scanned over Haruka's body that was already resting in the bathtub. The broken wrist in plaster was hanging over the side of it, though Haruka picked just that moment to move his wrist towards the surface of the water. Makoto realized just in time to reach out and grab Haruka's wrist.

"No Haru," Makoto said. "You can't!" He pulled the wrist in plaster up above Haruka's head causing him to look up.

"I… I want you to get out, Haru," Makoto said hesitantly.

Haruka looked up at Makoto in surprise. It was the first time Makoto had told him to get out of the water, then again it was the first time he had a broken bone. Haruka got out of the bathtub and revealed that he as usual was wearing his swimsuit.

"Thanks…" Makoto said as Haruka dried himself off and went to make breakfast as usual. The usual mackerel. Makoto didn't really feel like he was up for the fish for breakfast so he made himself at home and had himself a piece of bread instead.

* * *

It all went perfect at school. Haruka still had a bit of difficulty holding a pen. Makoto kept an eye on his best friend as well as he could because he was still worried about him.

At lunch the two met up with Rei, Nagisa and Gou on the roof to have lunch all three of them together.

"So, was something wrong, Haruka-senpei?" Rei asked.

"His wrist has been broken," Makoto answered before Haruka got to say a word. "So He has it in plaster for a month,"

"So, Haru-chan can't swim with us?" Nagisa asked concerned while looking from Haruka's face to the plaster around his wrist.

"Nagisa-kun, it's your fault you know," Rei commented.

Nagisa got a guilty look on his face and didn't say another word about Haruka's broken wrist after that. Nobody else knew what to say either because all of them knew that Rei was right. As much as all of them wanted to comfort the younger by saying "it was an accident" all of them knew that if it hadn't been for Nagisa the accident would never have happened.

"So, what are we gonna do about joined practice this Saturday?" Gou asked.

"Aren't you the manager?" Haru asked.

Gou looked away. He was right. She was supposed to find out what to do. But before she could get any further another problem occurred.

"Hey, Hikari-kun!" a girl yelled to her friend. "Has that pool always been there?"

Haruka's head snapped up and he looked in the direction of the two girls before standing up and running down from the roof.

_Why did they just HAVE to say Pool?_ Makoto thought as he got up to chase after Haruka and stop him before he ended up in the pool and with the need of going to the hospital again to get new plaster on his wrist.

The others chased after Makoto who was still chasing after Haruka. The black haired teen was always within sight but Makoto was never able to grab a hold of him and stop him until they made it to the pool and Haruka was standing on the spring-board ready to jump.

"Haru!" Makoto yelled as he grabbed Haruka's left arm. "No don't do it," he shook his head when Haruka looked to prove his point.

Haruka send Makoto an upset look before stepping down and getting himself dressed again. Makoto could finally let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He'd managed to stop Haru in time.

"I honestly think it's better if Haruka is not practicing with us," he said looking at Gou while keeping an eye on his friend to make sure he won't get any good ideas and tries to jump back into the pool.

Gou nodded. "The issue about that would be that someone might have to take the time to keep an eye on him," she said.

Makoto sighed. "I'll do it"

"But then we're only half a swim-team," Rei said.

"I know!" Nagisa yelled in excitement. "We could all take turns watching out for Haru-chan,"

"I don't need it," Haruka said so lowly that they could barely hear it.

"I'm sorry, Haru," Makoto said looking at his best friend. "But I don't trust you enough for that under the circumstances,"

Haruka didn't comment on that. He knew that already and it wasn't without reason Makoto didn't trust him. He had already tested the other's trust enough for the day and maybe it wasn't such a good idea to push his luck too far.

* * *

Makoto had decided to sleep at Haruka's place as much as possible. He really couldn't trust Haru when it came to staying away from water. He was now lying in bed next to Haruka in the boy's room. The best thing about this whole concept was that even though Haruka was unwilling to have someone keep an eye on him he could still see that it was needed.

Makoto listened to Haruka's deep breathing as the other slept while he couldn't seem to fall asleep at all. He was thinking about the times when he wouldn't be able to watch out for Haruka, during joined practice this weekend and while he was out camping in the following one. Makoto simply didn't know what to do.

All things aside it had been going just fine during their own practice. He had been sitting still with Gou and whoever wasn't in the water at the moment.

Makoto knew it was difficult for Haru to stay out of the water and that's why he was actually really proud of him for not even moving to try and get in the water. He didn't even complain, though that would also have been much out of character for him.

Nothing like this had ever happened to Haruka before, not even when they were kids had Haruka been forced to stay out of the water.

Speaking of when they were kids… Makoto actually had a clue of who to ask to look after Haruka while he was out camping. Because the camping was by a lake Haruka couldn't come along of course and Makoto won't risk that Haru strained his wrist too much so it was better for him to stay home. And the one to look after him would be just perfect… that is if he wanted to.

_I should ask him now…_ Makoto thought _but do I have his phone number? Yeah I think I do._

Makoto found his phone and looked through his contacts. He was right. He did have the phone number he was looking for. He quickly typed a text to the someone he was thinking about.


	3. Wednesday - August 20th

**Wednesday - August 20th**

* * *

Today started the same way as the day before had. Makoto woke up to find Haruka's bed empty and to no surprise found him in the bathtub where he was soaking as usual. Haruka once again was about to put his arm in the water and once again Makoto managed to stop him just in time.

"You're much more protective than usual," Haru said as he pulled his wrist out of Makoto's grip… or tried to. Makoto was holding on tight and when Haru pulled it started hurting so badly he didn't want to pull any harder.

Makoto blinked confused. "I am?" he asked.

Haru only nodded to this. "What could happen if the plaster got wet?" he asked.

"You'd need to go back at the hospital to get a new one," was the answer and Haru just sighed to that and got out of the bathtub even if he would've loved to stay in there much longer if he could. "We're a bit late Haru," Makoto said as he went out the bathroom.

Haru went and dried himself before getting dressed and going downstairs to make breakfast. Again this was no different than the day before and even what Makoto decided to have for breakfast was the same. To both of the boys it slightly felt like a déjà-vu.

They made it in time for school even if they didn't hurry that much to get there they still made it and the day just kept on looking like the day before

"I had an idea for the weekend!" Nagisa was smiling as he said this at the lunch-break. "We could have a sleepover from Friday to Saturday!"

"That sounds great," Makoto approved the idea. "But who would be holding it?"

"Haru-chan of course!" Nagisa exclaimed like it was as natural as breathing. It did seem that way too, to everyone but said Haru-chan. "Since you're already staying there it would only be me, Rei-chan and Gou-chan who would be taking up more space"

"It does seem like a good idea," Rei commented while studying Haru's and Makoto's faces.

"Yeah, it's a really great idea Nagisa," Makoto looked at the boy who was too busy discussing weather it was Gou or Kou with said girl and as usual he won the argument by saying 'Kou-chan' causing the girl to get confused.

Then the bell went off and all of them went back to have the afternoon classes. Again it was just another repeat of the day before with the teacher talking and the class taking notes. Then the schoolday ended and the members of Iwatobi Swim Club went to the pool and had yet another repeat of yesterdays events.

"Okay!" Gou called out half way through training. "Let's see who of you three is the fastest just for the fun!" Rei and Nagisa lined up by the pool and Makoto got up from the bench next to Haruka.

"Please stay, Haru," Makoto begged.

Haru just nodded in respond. He would try his best to behave and control his addiction to the water though he knew it would be difficult to restrain himself with nobody to watch out for him. It shocked the teen to realize how much he had come to rely on Makoto stopping him from getting the plaster wet.

"Thanks," Makoto smiled before hurrying up to join the others.

The three jumped into the water while Haru could just sit and wish he was able to do the same. As the current situation was all the water he got to jump into was the water in his bathtub and he didn't get to stay there for long thanks to a certain overprotective someone.

Haru felt the bench vibrate under him and realized that Makoto had left his phone next to him and had got a text message. He knew he wasn't supposed to but he got really curious and decided to open and read the text that Makoto had received.

* * *

_Makoto:_

_Hey Rin. Could I ask you to do me a favor?_

* * *

_Rin:_

_What kind of favor?_

* * *

_Makoto:_

_Haru has broken his wrist and needs to stay out of the water and I'm gonna go camping with my family next weekend so I'd hear if you could make sure he stays out of the water._

* * *

Makoto had asked Rin to keep an eye on him? Haru couldn't believe this and then even without saying a word!

All these messages were from last night and Rin had just send his answer to Makoto's last one.

* * *

_Rin:_

_We have joined practice this Saturday. We can talk about it then_

* * *

That was it! Haru felt the insult rising inside of him. He was a teenager, on his third year of high school, yet here his two best friends were talking about who should babysit him. It wasn't like it was without a reason but Haru still felt like they were treating him like a child.

"Haru?" Makoto walked up to Haru and their eyes met.

"You got a message," was all Haru said before handing the annoying device to Makoto who quickly read the message and nodded to himself before sitting down next to Haru.

* * *

After practice Makoto and Haru walked home together as usual. Again it was just another repeat of yesterday and for some reason it had started to annoy Haru to no end that it was just another repeat and if there'd been any differences form the day before it was only for the worse. Speaking of worse, he needed to confront Makoto.

"Why did you ask Rin about that? I thought I'd agreed to come along," Haru said.

Makoto looked up at him and smiled. He had already figured out that Haru had been reading through the messages and had just been waiting for the moment when Haru would ask about them.

"You did," Makoto nodded. "But the circumstances has changed since then and I'm not sure it's vise to let you come along. I asked Rin because I don't want to leave you all to yourself and I figured you'd rather spend a weekend with him, you won't be able to stand Nagisa and Rei most likely won't be able to stand you for that long and I won't expect it from Gou to take care of the problem," Makoto explained himself still smiling.

Haru nodded. "Why didn't you tell me yesterday?"

Makoto's smile faded. He hadn't thought about talking to Haru about it but now that the other mentioned it, it would've been the best idea to do so first even if he wasn't about to give Haru a choice in the matter it would've been much better to tell him first. If someone was about to arrange something that concerned Makoto he would also like to know about it first.

"I'm sorry, Haru," Makoto said. "You're right, I should've told you about it before arranging it,"

Haru nodded, accepting the apology and the thing was soon forgotten as the day continued the same way the other had.

* * *

"Haru?" Makoto asked as they were both lying in bed.

"What?" Haru turned to look at Makoto, wondering what the other was gonna say.

"Could we have something other than mackerel for dinner tomorrow?" Makoto requested. He'd already got tired of having the same meal two nights in a row.

"Sure," Haru answered.

"Thanks," Makoto smiled at his friend relieved that Haru agreed to make a change like that. "Goodnight Haru," He said before closing his eyes.

"Goodnight Makoto," Haru said also closing his eyes as they both fell asleep.

* * *

**Thank you to JoeFandome and Ice Cream Freak for favoriting. I really appreciate the support :)**

**Jackie**


	4. Friday - August 22nd

**Friday - August 22nd**

* * *

Once again Makoto and Haru only just made it to school on time and were panting heavily when they sat in their seats in the classroom. The rest of the class suddenly started gathering around the two – especially around Haruka.

"Nanase-kun," a girl said. "Is it true your wrist is broken?"

Haru didn't bother to answer her. He just placed his wrist on the table and let the girl see for herself.

"Oh my!" another girl said. "How did it happen?"

Even if it was kinda rude Haru decided not to answer this question either wondering why they absolutely needed to know about all that, and why they wanted to know for that matter.

"Could I write on it?" the first girl asked.

"Why would you do that?" Makoto asked.

"At my elementary school a girl once broke her leg and we all got to write on it, our names or just a wish of her recovery," the girl explained.

Makoto smiled, the idea sounded really sweet.

"No," Haru said.

The girls whined loudly as their teacher entered the classroom and asked everyone to take their seats as she could start the lesson. This saved Haru for further trouble about the plaster and people who wanted to write on it… at least those from his class. However he was still praying to whoever God that was out there that the same idea would never find its way into Nagisa's head because it would be much more difficult to have him laying off with the idea.

* * *

After the training by the end of the afternoon everyone was heading home to Haru, with him and Makoto in the lead and the three younger students right behind them.

"Haru-chan!" Nagisa said. "I heard a few girls talk about writing on that plaster of yours, think we could do that?" he asked.

_DAMN YOU NAGISA! _"No," Haru said without giving a further explanation.

"Aww, come on!" Nagisa whined. "I just wanna write something on it!"

"No," Haru said.

"Nagisa-kun what would you want to write?" Rei asked curiously.

"Just something like 'Hope you recover soon Haru-chan' or something like that," Nagisa smiled innocently at Rei and Rei looked confused at Haruka.

"What could be wrong with that Haruka-senpei?" he asked.

Haru looked at Rei with a look that told him to not ask any more questions. Rei got it and just shut up, though it wasn't as easy to make the other shut up.

"Yeah Haru-chan what's wrong with it?" Nagisa asked.

"I don't want it," was all Haru said causing both Nagisa and Gou – who had taken interest in the conversation – to whine loudly as the group made it to Haruka's home.

Haru just unlocked the door silently allowing everyone to enter the house. The other four made themselves at home and sat down in the living room, just waiting.

Haru went to the kitchen and prepared dinner. Makoto had decided what they'd have knowing that Haru would most likely just make mackerel.

"Haru-chan?" Nagisa entered the kitchen while Haru was cooking.

Haru turned his head in Nagisa's direction showing him that he was listening while still cooking with only one eye on what he was doing.

"Can't I write on the plaster?" Nagisa asked.

Haru just glared coldly at Nagisa before turning back to his cooking project, paying it his full attention. As he was cutting vegetables he was starting to feel pain in his wrist. He refused to ask for help even if he knew that would be the best idea; Haru wouldn't want to bother his friends. He never did bother them, not intentionally anyway.

"Haru-chan?" Nagisa was still standing there, he hadn't moved since he'd asked his question. "Shouldn't I help you?"

Haru stepped away from the only half done vegetables and Nagisa got up to finish the job for his friend. He'd noticed the look of pain that had appeared on Haru's face and had that feeling that Haru wasn't going to ask for help anytime soon.

"Thanks," Haru said as Nagisa stepped back from the now all done vegetables.

"It's no problem Haru-chan," Nagisa said. "Just ask another time, we don't mind helping you out,"

Haru couldn't help but smile at the way Nagisa sounded like Makoto when he said that. It wasn't like their voices were similar; it was what Nagisa had said. Haru could just hear Makoto say those same words.

The rest of the night went smoothly. Nagisa kept on begging to get to write on Haru's plaster but the older teen stood his ground and refused to let the younger boy write on his plaster. Gou started to ask to write on it too but Haru still kept on refusing both of them.

After a while of arguing about where to sleep they all decided to sleep on the floor in the living room. Everyone then got ready for bed and went to sleep shortly after. They all wished each other a good night before falling asleep

* * *

**Hope you still enjoy this thing :)**

**Please still feel (splash) free to review, favorite and follow. Share your thoughts with me! It's appreciated. It also make it much more enjoyable to publish and write more stories like this in the future (fish). **

**(Do you need further proof that I'm bored?)**

**Jackie**


	5. Saturday - August 23rd

**Saturday - August 23rd**

* * *

When Haru woke up the following morning the first thing his saw was a mess of colors of all kind. Looking a bit closer he could make out a heart, a few fish, some flowers here and there and the kanji for Nagisa's name and what he assumed was the kanji of Rei's name somewhere else.

Sometimes it was really incredible what that boy could do despite the fact that someone denied him something, wait a second, maybe that was exactly why he did it. Haru sighed. He got up from the middle of a bunch of people and went to the bathroom.

He managed to fill the bathtub with water and slip into it when the door opened and Makoto made eye contact with him from the door.

"Just got in huh?" he asked.

Haru just nodded letting his head sink half underwater.

Makoto laid eyes on the plaster around Haru's wrist and smiled. "I take it Nagisa had his way with it?" once again Haru just nodded in respond.

"Whatever you do, don't get the plaster wet," Makoto informed before shutting the door. Haru knew he'd be back when he had to get up which won't be before at least an hour had passed. He had plenty of time with his precious water for now.

* * *

Makoto pulled Haru out of the water just before they had to leave. Gou had made breakfast for all of them while Haru had been soaking so Haru missed out on today's dose of mackerel. Nagisa was as cheerful as ever even though Haru kept glaring at him and the boy kept on playing innocent until Haru confronted him and Rei about it later.

"It wasn't my fault Haruka-senpei!" Rei claimed.

"No, Rei-chan!" Nagisa whined. "You suggested we should draw those fish on it!"

"It was only a suggestion, Nagisa-kun!" Rei shook the boy lightly. "It was you who wrote my name on it!"

"Because you were part of it!" Nagisa whined again.

Haru was getting a headache from listening to that stupid argument of theirs. It didn't really surprise him that Rei wasn't directly involved and the one who had the most responsibility (the only one responsible) was Nagisa.

"Haru, Nagisa, Rei!" Makoto called from the hallway. "We need to get going or we'll be late!"

All three of them hurried outside and they went to Samezuka Academy for their joined practice as quickly as possible. They were one second to being late but somehow they just made it.

"Just made it." Rin said looking up from his phone.

They all went inside and Rei, Nagisa and Makoto went to change while Haru followed Gou to the sidelines with the irritation boiling inside him.

"So, Haru's not gonna be able to swim with us today?" Rin asked looking at Makoto as the taller boy changed into his swimsuit.

"No," Makoto answered. "His right wrist is to not have any contact with water for about four more weeks"

"That's too bad, so that means he won't be able to swim for a month. How does he cope with that?" Rin asked.

Makoto thought about his answer. "I'm not sure if he's even coping at all. He soaks in the bathtub as much as he can as usual but I think the fact that he can't get to swim in the pool bothers him a lot," he finished changing and looked at Rin. "I'm still in need of your help next weekend," he finished.

Rin nodded. "We'll talk about that later," he paused, "after practice," he said as he exited the changing room, the others following right behind him.

* * *

The practice went fine. Everyone was doing great and it was fun for all parties. However half way through Haru decided he wanted to join in on the fun and tried to jump into the water, he got as far as to take off his clothes as he was only wearing his swimsuit before Gou managed to stop him, however Haru was stronger than her and she was holding onto his left arm, which didn't bother him so it wasn't until Makoto got out of the water that they managed to get Haru back to the sidelines.

Rin was amused at the sight but he did worry that he might get into that same kind of trouble the following weekend if he agreed to help Makoto out and look after Haru.

"How do you think it could work out with me looking after Haru next weekend? First he needs to get here," Rin said taking first things first after they'd finished and he sat down on a bench with Makoto.

"I'm leaving on Friday morning. The others will keep an eye on him at school and take him to you in the afternoon. I'll come pick him up Sunday or you can just bring him home but I'd rather the first," Makoto said.

"You don't trust him very much?" Rin leaned back.

"Not when it comes to water," Makoto sighed regretfully. "But it's for his own good,"

Haru walked up to them and sat down on the other side of Makoto not saying a word. Nobody else did either for that matter; they didn't mind him being there since it did concern him.

"Do you plan on staying here for the weekend?" Makoto asked.

Rin shrugged, "That's what I usually do."

"Where is he going to stay then?" Makoto asked.

Rin sighed slightly annoyed, "I'll figure something out for Friday!" he practically yelled. This thing was kinda stressing him out.

"Okay," Makoto smiled, "and you are willing to take the responsibility?" he asked just to be sure.

Rin really thought it through. Was he willing to take such responsibility? If he couldn't handle Haru and the plaster got wet, Makoto would be really angry. Rin knew that if it weren't for the camp and Makoto's lack of trust in Haruka when it came to water he would've taken care of the blue eyed boy himself. Rin could tell from the situation he'd witnessed earlier that it won't be an easy task but only because of that, not many would be able to handle it.

"I'm sure," Rin finally said nodding to prove his point, not as much to Makoto as to himself.

"Thanks Rin," Makoto answered as he got up. "Haru," he looked at the blue-eyed boy. "We should get going, the others are waiting,"

Haru followed Makoto away from the place while Rin was just staring after them. He couldn't believe that he'd just accepted to do Makoto that favor of looking after a boy his own age like a babysitter.


	6. Monday - August 25th

**Monday - August 25th**

* * *

"So what did you agree with Nii-san to do with Haruka-senpei?" Gou asked first thing when she saw Makoto and Haru at school on Monday morning.

Makoto explained their agreements – which didn't take much more than half a minute – and then fell silent.

Nagisa and Rei came rushing up to them, for once they'd been a bit late for God knows what reason, maybe they just wanted to stay away from Haru as much as possible. Makoto won't blame them for that, since the girls had noticed the plaster, now with about a thousand colors and symbols on it, they'd been begging none-stop for Haru to let them write on the plaster as well. Haru of course had denied them.

"Haru-chan! Mako-chan!" Nagisa waved at the two, not stopped by the angry murderous glare Haru send him. The duo stopped in front of the others and they were now all gathered.

"Lay off with the –chan," Haru snapped in a low voice that was supposed to be scary but failed to that because Haru wasn't usually trying to scare anyone.

Nagisa ignored it of course and everyone knew that what so ever he would never lay off with the –chan. He never did no matter how many times someone told him to. And just because Haru had had enough of him for the time being it still wasn't enough to make him lay off.

"So, how was your weekend?" Nagisa asked looking at everyone. "What'd you do?"

"Haru was over at my place yesterday and stayed overnight," Makoto answered. "Aside from that we did nothing special…"

"Are you planning to stay with Haruka-senpei all the time until his plaster is removed, Makoto-senpei?" Rei asked.

"Except from next weekend that is the plan," Makoto answered. He didn't mind at all that it had to be like that, he just hoped he won't grow too tired of looking after his friend.

Haru didn't object to that.

"Won't it be a little repetitive?" Gou asked.

"I don't think either of us mind that much," Makoto answered.

"I know! On the weekend September 13th to 15th we could have a birthday party!" Nagisa suggested.

"None of us have our birthday around that time," Rei said. "You just had your birthday at the beginning of this month and the next birthday coming up is Makoto-senpai's in November," He informed.

"I'm impressed you keep taps on that," Makoto admitted.

Rei was blushing with pride at that.

"What about Rin-chan?" Nagisa asked looking at everyone.

"Nii-san's birthday isn't until February," Gou said.

The grin on Nagisa's face got wider and everyone got a slight clue of what was coming next. "Then we'll just celebrate the birthday of Iwatobi-chan!" he said.

"Nagisa-kun," Rei whispered. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea,"

Makoto nodded at Rei's statement with an apologetic smile at the short boy while Haru send him a glare that couldn't be understood any different than 'No way'. Gou didn't look too pleased with the idea either and Nagisa realized that Iwatobi-chan might not have been the best idea.

"Maybe we should quit the thing with a birthday party," Makoto suggested. "And just have it being a party?"

Nagisa lit up. "Then what kind of party?" he asked.

"Pool party," Haru said.

"That might be a bad idea, you will still have your wrist in plaster at that time," Makoto advised kindly.

Haru nodded slightly unhappy that he couldn't have his pool party.

"We can have a pool party the following weekend?" Gou suggested. "To celebrate that you're free Haruka-senpai?"

Haru cheered up when he heard those words, he'd have his pool party after all and Makoto didn't object to the idea. Haru deserved it anyway.

"But what about the party the weekend before?" Rei asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"We could just have a sleepover for the team?" Nagisa suggested.

"Won't that leave out Gou?" Makoto asked worriedly.

Nagisa thought of that for a bit. "Guess it would, sorry Gou-chan!"

"Hey! I wanna be a part of it too!" Gou whined.

They ended up _maybe _having a sleepover somewhere in the middle of September. Though nothing was for sure yet. It wasn't even certain if Gou would come along or not, but the idea of something to look forward to made the next long period of time much more fun for not just Haru and Makoto, but the rest of the group as well.

* * *

**Adri-Swan: Yeah. Rin sure got his hands full. You really seem to enjoy it. I'm glad. **

**Please continue on reviewing, and thanks for all the reviews I already got. **

**Jackie**


	7. Wednesday - August 27th

**WARNING! I'm going to be really mean to Haru and Makoto in this chapter so please don't get too angry with me. I simply couldn't figure out anything better than this. This WILL include someone dying, but it's just an OC, but if you don't want to read about anyone dying, then I guess you can read all of it except the end. it's only a minnor part of the chapter, and only has an impact on a few future chapters. **

* * *

**Wednesday - August 27th**

* * *

Nothing or nobody could've warned Haru and Makoto of what would happen later on this day. To them it was just an ordinary Wednesday – a day of water. As usual Haru could be found in the water that morning and Makoto would do his best to make sure Haru won't put his right wrist into the water. Haru had gotten pretty much used to it by now however it still upset him that this particular part of his body couldn't get wet.

"Haru, we have to hurry or we'll be late!" Makoto opened the door to the bathroom checking on his friend.

Haru said nothing. He felt comfortable in the bathtub and didn't want to leave the water. Why did time have to pass so quickly?

Makoto stepped in and reached out his hand. "Come on," he said and Haru grabbed his hand allowing the green eyed boy to pull him out of the bathtub.

After a quick round of mackerel they were all set and ready to go, the boys hurried to school.

* * *

"Nakayama-san? Would you pass these out please?" Miss Amakata asked and a girl stood up to pass out whatever it was, Haru wasn't paying attention.

Nakayama made her way around the classroom placing something on each table. Haru learned it was the assignment due… some time before the summer break when she put one on his table. A loud thud was heard and Haru looked up noticing that the girl had tripped over her own legs. Papers were lying everywhere around her.

"Oh?" Miss Amakata looked at the scene. "Nanase-kun would you please help Nakayama-san gather the papers?" she asked.

Haru got down from his chair and helped the girl gather the papers. She looked at him and blushed just a little bit. Haru didn't understand why she was blushing like that. She didn't know him. They'd never spoken to each other.

"Thank you Nanase-kun," she said as she stood up and continued handing out assignments. Haru sat back up on his seat and followed the rest of her way around the classroom.

* * *

"Haru?" Makoto asked when classes had ended for the day. "Is there something you haven't told me?" he asked curiously. Just like Haru he'd noticed that Nakayama had been blushing while Haru had helped her gather the papers.

"No," Haru answered. "I don't know why she was blushing,"

"I think she's crushing on you," Makoto said.

"Does Haru-chan have someone crushing on him?" Nagisa questioned. The duo had made it to the pool area and the others were already there and happened to overhear the last of their conversation. All of them were now looking at Haru and Makoto with curiosity painted all over their faces.

"It looks like it," Makoto answered.

"Who?" Gou asked eagerly.

"Nakayama-san from our class," Makoto answered.

"Who is that?" Nagisa asked.

Makoto smiled. "Guess you don't know her, well I barely know her either, actually I didn't notice her until today when she tripped in front of Haru's desk and dropped a lot of papers.

"Do you know her Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked.

"No," Haru said.

Gou smiled. "Well, she is just crushing on Haruka-senpai. I don't think it'll last forever,"

The others agreed to her statement and they went on and started swimming.

Haru kept on thinking about the girl. She wasn't part of that group that was following just about everything in class. This group was also the one that had asked to write on the plaster. As far as he was aware she was pretty much the same as him, preferring to stay silent unless she had to speak. Haru wasn't sure if he wanted a girlfriend like that though.

_Then what kind of girlfriend do I want?_ Haru asked himself. He wasn't sure if he knew the answer to that question though. Maybe he wanted someone who would talk to him and didn't mind that he would stay silent. Yeah that seemed alright with him, but they should also understand when he wanted silence. Someone who didn't mind his addiction to water, maybe they could even enjoy being in the water as well. However as far as he knew there was no one like that anywhere in this world. Or at least he still had yet to meet her.

Haru had been so lost in thoughts he didn't realize that the others had finished swimming already and Makoto called his name while waving his hand in front of his face.

"Haru, Haru?" he called while still waving.

Haru blinked and looked up.

Makoto smiled at him. "What were you thinking about?" he asked as Haru stood up.

"Nothing," came the answer and the two left the school to go home and have their dinner. Haru planned on making mackerel, thanks to Makoto ha hadn't had mackerel for dinner for a week now and he missed it just a tiny bit.

"Do you want anything special for dinner?" Makoto asked as if reading Haru's thoughts.

"Mackerel," Haru answered.

Makoto chuckled. "Should've guessed that," he said as they went on their way to Haru's place. "Where do you want to stay tomorrow night?" Makoto asked. "I'm leaving early so I'm planning on sleeping at home. You could come with me," he said.

Haru nodded. "Then I stay at your place," he said.

"Ren and Ran will be happy to hear that," Makoto said smiling at the thought of how his younger siblings would react.

* * *

**People who don't want to read about other people dying should stop right here and just go directly to the A/N in the bottom where I'll leave a quick summary of what happens from here on out.**

* * *

Haru just then bumped into someone and looked down, only to notice Nakayama looking up at him. She quickly jumped away with shock on her face while blushing madly.

"I'm so sorry Nanase-kun!" she yelled almost in a panic. "I didn't see where I was going!"

Haru just nodded to show that he accepted her apology.

"What are you doing out here Nakayama-san?" Makoto asked.

"I was on my way to the store," the girl answered. "Where are you going?"

"Home from school," Makoto answered. "We just finished swimming,"

"Oh yeah," Nakayama smiled. "You're in that swim club, how is that?" she asked politely looking more at Haru than at Makoto.

Haru didn't know what to say and looked at Makoto instead, Makoto looked back at Haru. "Well…" Haru trailed off. "It's okay," he disliked giving his opinion on such subjects, maybe she wasn't as much like him as he'd first thought but it didn't mean anything in a good way. She could be a friend but she was not a potential girlfriend.

"We all enjoy it pretty much," Makoto answered.

Haru had gotten tired of standing around and pulled Makoto's arm forcing him to continue. That was when a sound hit them, It was loud and irritating their ears. Haru noticed that Nakayama covered her ears, and the next thing he knew was that he was being pushed backwards by Makoto while he could only watch as a car hit Nakayama and threw her into the building before the car hit the building as well.

"Nakayama-san!" Haru yelled causing Makoto to look over his shoulder.

"Oh no…" he whispered. He pulled out his phone and called for help.

Haru sensed nothing at all from that point. He heard sounds and saw lights, heard voices from strangers and Makoto who were speaking to each other. All his mind could process was that Nakayama had died in that car accident they'd just witnessed. He could've died too if Makoto hadn't pushed him away from there at the very last second.

What Haru noticed next was that he and Makoto were standing outside his house and Makoto was trying to unlock the door. Haru reached out and helped him open it.

"Are you okay, Haru?" Makoto asked. His face was pale and Haru suddenly got worried about his taller friend.

"I'm fine," he said before going in. He decided to quit the mackerel and make some tea for now. That would do them much better at the moment. He handed Makoto a cup and the other sat down in silence. They were both in shock, still thanks to Makoto, Haru had been able to process it while he took care of everything else. Haru knew that now was his time to take care of Makoto.

"You should be home," he told the other.

"I'm fine," Makoto's lie was more than obvious. His voice was a bit shaky and he was still pale.

"We stay at your place tonight," Haru demanded before going to pack up what he needed before coming back and pulling Makoto up on his feet before they were heading home to Makoto.

Makoto's parents took care of them from then on. Ren and Ran kept on asking questions and Haru explained what had happened. On their way over Makoto had gone into a state of total shock and Mr. and Mrs. Tachibana now took care of both the boys, making them another cup of tea and then sending them to bed.

"Thanks Haru…" Makoto said when they'd been left to sleep in Makoto's room.

"Huh?" Haru looked at Makoto in confusion.

"I don't think I could've explained it again," Makoto said.

"It's nothing," Haru said. They were silent for a while before Haru found the words he was looking for. "Thank you Makoto," he said.

"For what?" Makoto wasn't asleep yet like Haru had expected.

"For saving me," Haru answered

Makoto smiled. He hadn't been able to save Nakayama but if he'd tried to save the girl he would've lost his best friend and he'd rather have Haru staying alive than watching him die.

* * *

**Summary of the last half part of the chapter:**

**Haruka ends up bumping into Nakayama and she speaks to him and Makoto for a short while, before Haruka gets tired of it and decides to leave, then a car comes as he is about to pass by and Makoto saves Haru from being hit, but fails to save Nakayama and Haru ends up watching her die. After a while they head home to Makoto where they stay for the night, because Haru figures that is the best idea because both he and Makoto are marked by what happened. **

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews. They're so great to read. I know things have taken a turn for something much darker, but it will turn back to the light mood soon, I promise. **

**Furthermore, from now on I will do my best to follow the days of the week so it'll look like today, a chapter happening on a Wednesday will be published on a Wednesday. Though it might slip from time to time. But this is my plan. **

**Feel free to review, favorite and follow.**

**Jackie**


	8. Thursday - August 28th

**Thursday - August 28th**

* * *

Neither Makoto nor Haru got much sleep that night. Both of them were too lost in thoughts to even think about such a thing. They were both aware of the other being awake, yet none of them said a word. They preferred the silence.

Makoto recalled his conversation with the policemen that had arrived at the scene only minutes after it'd all happened. They'd questioned him to no end.

"What happened?" an officer asked.

"I'm not sure," Makoto answered. "We were talking and then I see the car driving towards us. Judging by the way the car was driving I'd say the driver was drunk," he explained.

"You say you were talking? To whom?" he asked.

"My friend behind me and the girl who got hit," Makoto said nodding in first Haru's direction and then towards the car and the bloody mess. He hadn't liked the scene. There was a lot of blood. He didn't blame Haru for going into a shock.

"Do you know her from somewhere?" The officer had asked then.

Makoto nodded. "She was one of our classmates, her name was Nakayama, I don't know her first name though," he explained.

An ambulance had made it to the place when the officer was done questioning Makoto and a doctor went to talk to him too.

"Were you here when this happened?" she asked.

Makoto nodded. "We were," he said.

The doctor went over them quickly. She asked Haru about his wrist though the blue eyed didn't respond at all to anything.

"He broke his wrist about a week and a half ago," Makoto answered. "And at the moment I think he's in shock, we'd just finished talking to the girl who died," Makoto said.

"You knew her?" the doctor asked.

"She was one of our classmates, we didn't know her that well though," Makoto explained.

The doctor nodded. She grabbed two pieces of paper and wrote something on them. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Tachibana Makoto," Makoto answered. "My friend's name is Nanase Haruka," He also gave her the kanji for their names and she nodded while writing it down before handing them both a paper.

"These are identical, it is if you find yourselves in need of help with coping this incident," she explained. "To prove that you might be in need," she paused. "If you find you don't need these you can always throw them away," she finished.

"Thank you," Makoto answered before another question came to mind. "How bad was it? With the girl?" he asked.

The doctor looked directly at him, she had a sad but kind smile on her face. "Her body took a lot of damage, there is about a 99% chance she died instantly," she answered.

Makoto nodded, at least Nakayama didn't have to suffer.

* * *

The same thought ran through his head now. At least Nakayama didn't suffer before she died and that was the most of a relief he could make out of it. He looked out the window, noticing the sun was rising now. He'd been awake almost all night. He turned his head looking to his side, there was Haruka, the light of the rising sun was reflecting in his eyes.

"Do you know if she suffered before dying?" Haru asked as usual without much of a warning.

"They say there's a 99% chance she died instantly," Makoto answered. Haru let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

They stayed silent until Makoto's mother knocked on the door telling both boys to get up and downstairs. She'd make them breakfast.

"Do you want to go to school today?" she asked when both Makoto and Haru entered the kitchen.

Makoto looked at his mother. "We have a choice?" he asked.

She nodded. "It's not easy after witnessing what you did last night. If you need time to cope you can have the day off," she said handing each of the boys a cup of tea.

"Thanks," Makoto said accepting the cup. Haru didn't say a word, though to Mrs. Tachibana that was nothing new. She'd learned that Haru was a silent character.

"I'll be going now," she said. "Make sure to tell the school if you decide to take the day off.

Makoto eyed Haru who looked like someone who could pretty much use staying home for the day. He didn't like admitting it but he, himself won't want to go to school today either.

"Couldn't you tell them?" he asked before his mother left the house.

The woman smiled kindly at her son. "Of course, I'll do that," she told him before leaving. Haru and Makoto then had the entire day to themselves. They didn't do anything or said anything. For most of the time the two just sat around. Haru usually didn't respond to anything at all. He'd accept what was given to him and he'd let whoever take things away from him not caring if he could still use them or not.

Around afternoon Makoto heard someone knocking on the door and went to open it. Outside were both Rei and Nagisa.

"What are you doing here?" Makoto asked surprised.

"We heard of what happened," Rei said. "And we heard the teachers mention that you saw it so we came to see if you were doing okay," he said.

Makoto smiled saddened. "Please, come in," he said stepping aside allowing both boys to enter the house.

"Is Haru-chan here too?" Nagisa asked.

Makoto nodded. "Physically he is," he answered.

"What do you mean physically?" Nagisa looked up at the taller male.

Makoto thought about how to put it right before speaking. "He doesn't respond to anything other than accepting whatever I hand him and let me take it away whenever I want. He just sits there and does nothing. Honestly I'm getting worried,"

Both Rei and Nagisa nodded, understanding how he felt. They followed Makoto to where Haru was sitting and sat down on either side of him.

"Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked.

Haru didn't even bother to look at him. He just sat in the same position he'd been sitting in for four hours.

"I don't think anything's gonna happen," Makoto said. "I've already tried that a couple of times. It doesn't work,"

Nagisa looked saddened from Makoto to Haru and back to Makoto.

Makoto – who couldn't stand this much longer turned in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll prepare you some tea," he said. "And then I've gotta cancel Rin. I'm staying home," he said as he made it out of the room.

Nagisa and Rei exchanged looks. Both of them knew how much Makoto had been looking forward to this weekend. If he decided to not go camping with his family because of the way Haru was coping (or not coping) he was really worried.

"Haruka-senpai, you should pull it together," Rei whispered to Haru as Makoto won't hear.

"Yeah Haru-chan," Nagisa said. "Mako-chan is really worried about you," he also spoke in a voice as low as possible (for Nagisa) for the same reason as Rei. "He's gonna quit the camping trip with his family because of you," the boy continued.

Haru didn't seem to respond and none of the two noticed the slight change in their friend's expression. Of course how big a difference is there from dead face, to stone-face?

Makoto entered the room with tea and cups for all four of them and placed it on a small table. As he stood up straight Haru did the same thing, looking directly into Makoto's eyes.

"You go on that camp with your family," he demanded.

Makoto's eyes got slightly wider in surprise as a smile of joy crept across his face. Yet he still wasn't sure and the smile quickly changed to a worried look. "Haru are you sure you'll be doing alright?" he asked.

Haru nodded. "I'll be fine. Rin can help me if I need to," It wasn't like Haru would LET Rin help him but he had to say this, or Makoto won't go and right now his friend's needs were more important than his own.

"If you're sure… Then I guess I'll go," Makoto said smiling at Haru. "Are you doing better?"

Haru nodded.

"Yay!" Nagisa yelled. "Mako-chan's gonna go camping!"

Makoto smiled. He had an idea that Rei and Nagisa had spoken to Haru while he was gone and that was why Haru was speaking now. He also had a feeling that Haru wasn't completely honest when he nodded to answer the question, but he didn't say a word, maybe things would've changed tomorrow.

* * *

**Naoh03: If you want them to have romantic feelings towards each other then you should be able to see it. But it is intended to be a story of friendship, and then there might slip hints of a little bit of everything through. But the intention is to leave it up to the reader to decide who has feelings towards who.**

**Well, nothing more to say for today. There might not be an update tomorrow so the Friday chapter will come on Saturday (sorry)**

**Jackie**


	9. Friday - August 29th

**Friday - August 29th**

* * *

On this morning Haru had no time to soak in anyone's bathtub. He was staying at Makoto's place again and the entire Tachibana family had to get up early, and same rule applied to Haru because he was a guest at the moment.

"Haru, I'll be out of touch for the weekend so you really have to take care of yourself and not cause too much trouble for Rin," Makoto informed.

Haru understood though he did nothing to show it more than just a small nod.

"Thanks Haru, take care, I'll see you on Sunday," Makoto smiled before heading off with his family.

Haru decided to go to school even if it was still a bit early. Nagisa and Rei would be waiting outside for him, they'd told him that the day before when they'd been over.

* * *

It would be sad to say that Makoto had left Haru without a worry on his mind. He really was worried about how things would turn out. Haru wasn't himself at the moment and it couldn't have been more obvious even if Haru stood with a bright neon sign above him saying, 'I'm not okay!' Makoto didn't like it.

But Haru had asked him to go and Makoto knew that would be the best idea at the moment. They both needed time to think through what they saw the other day and maybe it was better for the both of them to actually have no contact to anything related to the accident, that including each other.

"Are you okay?" Makoto's mother asked, looking at her oldest son.

Makoto smiled. "I'm fine," he hoped she won't worry too much after that. He tried to shake his own worries off his mind. It would only make everything on this camp more difficult.

* * *

It was strange being back at school. And even stranger that Makoto wasn't there with him. Makoto had always been there, or so it seemed, at least at school. And for some reason Haru felt more distant to the others than usual.

Everyone except Nagisa and Rei had changed the way they acted, especially when he was around. When he entered the classroom that morning, everything fell completely silent. It wasn't like Haru would usually care much, but he was aware the only reason why they fell silent like this was because of him and that car accident involving Nakayama the other day.

The silence continued to follow Haru all day. No matter where he went, people would either talk quietly or stop their conversation. Once he saw two first-years leaning close to each other and whispering while looking at him. They only stopped when Gou – who happened to be standing next to them – gave one of them an elbow to the side and walked up to Haru to accompany him. She too didn't say as much as usual.

_I guess their silence is out of respect_ Haru thought as he continued down the hallway with Gou by his side.

* * *

"Haru-chan, over here!" Nagisa yelled as Haru exited the school building that afternoon. Haru walked up to them looking from one to the other in silent confusion. What were they doing here and why weren't they at the pool?

"We've canceled today," Rei said. "We've all agreed there's no point in continuing with only half a team,"

Haru nodded. He could see the idea, though he felt slightly envious. They had the chance to swim but didn't take it, while he had to just stand by not being able to swim no matter how much he desired to do so.

"Let's go!" Nagisa said before starting to walk off. The others followed. Rei and Nagisa had agreed to escort Haru to Samezuka Academy to make sure he won't come across any water on the way over there.

* * *

It took less time than Haru had expected. Or it felt like less. Rei and Nagisa were both acting normally despite the car accident the other day and how the rest of their schoolmates reacted to it all. Haru found it comfortable to know that nothing had changed there.

It turned out more things hadn't changed. When Haru and the others arrived at the school they noticed Rin and Sousuke standing outside, by the entrance to the school. Sousuke had a backpack with him and looked pretty much like he was about to leave.

"Hey Rin-chan!" Nagisa waved taking the lead of the group as they made their way up to Rin.

"I'll see you Sunday," Sousuke told Rin before heading off. He managed to send Haru an ice-cold look before turning his head the other way. It was more than obvious that someone still had a problem with the blue-eyed boy.

"Rin-chan, were you waiting for us?" Nagisa asked.

"No," Rin answered. "I was just here seeing Sousuke off,"

The silence after this was kinda uncomfortable for all parts until Nagisa and Rei both told Haru goodbye and left.

"Come on," Rin just said making it clear that Haru had to follow him. Haru did so and Rin led him to his room. "You'll stay here with me," he informed. "We have to get a madras for you though since Sousuke won't let you use his,"

Haru said nothing. His mind had gone elsewhere.

"You have to help me get it," Rin said slightly irritated.

Haru then dropped his own backpack and followed Rin to a room where they got a madras for him and he helped Rin carry it all the way back to the room. Even if he didn't want to he knew at the same time that Rin won't ask for help unless he seriously needed it.

The rest of the day went by with no big events. Most of the time the two just spend in Rin's room not really doing anything but sitting around in a comfortable silence. Rin had no idea of what to say and Haru was just being Haru and didn't say a word.

They went to bed around the same time. It was as if they'd made a silent agreement of what they'd be doing at exactly what time because their timing in everything they did was almost perfect.

Rin still found it weird having Haru stay over and he still couldn't believe that he'd agreed to this just because Makoto asked him to. It all seemed to be much more trouble than it was worth. Or would it be? The trick to it all was to make sure that Haru didn't catch sight of any kind of water which would be easy because the only place with enough water for Haru to jump into was the pool, and the pool seemed far away at the moment.

With these comforting thoughts in mind, Rin fell asleep.

Haru however couldn't seem to catch any kind of sleep at all. The only thing he could do was thinking about the accident, about Nakayama, about her crush on him, was that why she'd started talking to them? How cruel he'd been towards her and…

Haru got out of bed and without making a sound he snuck out of the room, silently closing the door behind him to make sure Rin won't wake up.

* * *

**Here we go again. Here is the chapter that was supposed to be published yesterday but never got published because I was elsewhere with zero laptop. (With great company though) Anyway I hope it's alright that this update is off scedule especially when I tell you that I won't publish anything on Wednesday and Thursday next week but then will be on time afterwards. **

**Please leave a few reviews and feel FREE! to favorite and follow. **

**And since I didn't sleep at all tonight I'm tired enough to offer some of what Momo thought was Gou's cookies. (Bored, I know)**

**To all of those who favorited, Thank you so much for the support on that. **

**Jackie**


	10. Saturday - August 30th

**Saturday - August 40th**

* * *

When Rin woke up around sunrise he wasn't exactly sure what had awoken him, but he knew something wasn't right. Looking to Sousuke's bed he noticed it was empty but somehow he knew that wasn't it…

Rin then looked down on the floor to see the madras and that's when he remembered that Sousuke had left the other day because Haru would stay with Rin for the weekend. And Haru was gone… now why was that important again?

Rin was so sleepy he couldn't seem to remember anything but suddenly everything hit him like a brick wall and he was wide-awake.

Makoto had asked Rin to look after Haru because Haru should not get into contact with water. Now Haru was missing. He'd most likely disappeared sometime during the night and Rin had failed his task of keeping an eye on Haru completely.

Rin couldn't decide what the worst part was, that Haru had gone missing or that Rin knew where Haru had disappeared to?

No matter what, Rin knew that he had to get up and relocate Haru even if it was an easy task it couldn't wait. The sooner he found his water-loving friend, the better.

* * *

As Rin entered the pool area he could clearly hear the sound of someone swimming around. He wasn't surprised. He saw a small head moving around in the pool and this surprised him even less. He walked up to the edge and called out to the dark head out there.

"Haru! Come back here!" he called somewhat angry with the other.

Haru didn't even react to what Rin said. He just kept on swimming like he had nothing else to do.

Rin sighed. "Haru, if you don't get back here I have to come drag you out of the pool myself" he said.

Haru still didn't react.

Rin sighed yet again. He hated that he had to do this. But when Haru was like this he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. He stripped until he was only wearing his swimsuit and jumped into the water, quickly making his way to his stubborn friend.

"Haru, come on," Rin grabbed Haru's shoulder, forcing the other to face him. "You need to get out of here or you'll ruin the plaster around your wrist and strain it as well.

Haru didn't answer. He just looked down at his wrist and following his gaze, Rin could tell the plaster was already pretty much ruined.

"For how long have you been here?" Rin asked.

Haru shrugged.

"When did you get down here?" Rin asked trying his best to make Haru speak.

"Since midnight," Haru answered.

Rin nodded. At least he'd got an answer but he would admit, it wasn't exactly the answer he'd wanted. He'd hoped for something like an hour or half an hour but this was so much he couldn't believe it. Makoto had told Rin about a time when nobody could seem to locate Haru and it turned out he'd been at the pool for hours. What bothered Rin was that it had all been his fault because of something stupid he'd said to Haru earlier that same day. If Haru had been in the water since midnight – almost five hours – it could only mean that something was bothering him.

"What's wrong Haru?" Rin asked.

Haru didn't answer. He just looked down as if the water was much more interesting (which it most likely was)

"Is it something I've done?" Rin asked.

Haru shook his head 'no'.

"Has someone else done something to you?" Rin asked feeling anger rise inside. If anyone had hurt Haru he swore he would…

Haru shook his head once again.

"Then what?" Rin asked getting irritated that he couldn't figure out what in the world was up with Haru. "What's on your mind because it's obvious something's wrong!" he practically yelled out the last part.

Something about Haru changed just then. Rin couldn't put his finger on it but it seemed Haru had gotten a bit upset and all irritation disappeared.

"Come on Haru…" Rin said wrapping his arm around Haru's shoulders leading him to the edge of the pool. Both of them sat up with their legs still in the water while letting their bodies dry in silence.

"Do you wanna tell me what's happened?" Rin asked.

For a while they just sat there. Rin was waiting for Haru's answer, watching his face carefully for any sign of emotion until Haru decided to speak explaining everything that happened three days ago. He spoke for a total of two minutes while Rin just stared.

"That's why I was down here, to get it all off my mind," Haru finished.

Rin's jaw had dropped. He had never heard Haru speak for so long and didn't think it would ever happen. But there he was. Sitting by the edge of the pool a Saturday morning some time past 5 listening to Haru explain what had happened to him and Makoto just a few days ago.

"I see," Rin nodded, now looking down at his knees like they were very interesting. He didn't know what to say or how to react to this. Somehow he wanted to tell Haru that he was sorry but he also knew that Haru won't want his pity.

"We should have your plaster changed…" Rin mumbled after ten minutes of silence.

Haru nodded as the only response.

_Makoto is not gonna be pleased about this._ Rin thought.

* * *

Rin had been afraid the doctor at the hospital would be angry with Haru for not taking better care but all he did was asking an awful lot of questions about how the plaster got as messed up as it did. Since Haru didn't answer at all Rin had to try his best to answer the many questions while he was mentally cursing Makoto for going camping in the first place. Looking on the bright side, at least Haru hadn't strained his wrist in any way noticeable.

They'd been in the hospital for an awfully long time. Almost half the day had passed while they'd been waiting. It was in the middle of the afternoon when they finally checked out of there and started heading back to the academy.

When they made it back Rin decided to do some homework he had due to Monday. He'd got nothing better to do and it should be possible to babysit Haru and do homework in the same time. At least if Haru could do something too.

Rin sat by his desk looking over his English. It was way too easy at least for his standards. Then again he'd been living in Australia for years. Anything English was easy. He could take care of that later… Then there was literature. Just the thought of all that reading gave Rin a headache. It would be better to just leave that alone…

"Rin?" Rin was snapped out of his thoughts by Haru's voice coming from behind him. He turned his head looking at the blue-eyed. He sat there with a book in hand on his madras looking up at Rin with his usual expressionless face yet Rin could tell Haru needed help with something.

Looking at the title of the book Rin quickly caught on to the problem.

"What don't you understand?" Rin asked.

Haru's gaze turned to an irritated glare. That could only mean all of it.

Rin sat down on the madras next to Haru, flipping through the pages in the English book. It wasn't a long text, just about three pages but Rin did find a few complicated words here and there, or at least complicated for everyone else.

"Okay…" Rin said. "Read out loud to me and stop by the first word you don't understand," he said. He needed to find out exactly how bad Haru was at English and this was the only way to do it if he wanted to make sure he didn't put the level too high or too low for Haru. Both could cause their communication a few problems for the rest of the weekend.

Haru started reading but hadn't read more than a couple of words before he stopped.

"Decided," Rin read out loud and translated the word to Japanese. Haru couldn't make any sense of it at least that was what his eyes claimed.

They continued like that and Rin tried to explain things to Haru about the English language. Haru still didn't seem to get it though. But when Rin had him repeat some of the more difficult words it appeared Haru could actually remember some of it. Though his English was still terrible.

"When you have made up your mind about something then what've you done?" Rin asked

Haru hesitated for a bit before giving his answer. "Decided,"

They forgot everything about dinner. Haru's English problems had taken an awfully long time and when Haru went to help Rin do some of his homework it also took some time. It ended up being past midnight before the two were done.

* * *

**I might have to explain that I didn't know exactly how bad Haru is at English. And since I'm pretty good myself (I think) it's not easy to guess how much you can and cannot when being bad at it. **

**Review, favorite and follow as you like. (I don't know what else to end this with!)**

**Jackie**


	11. Sunday - August 31st

**Sunday - August 31st**

* * *

"Damn," Rin mumbled leaning back in his chair. Haru was sitting on the madras looking out the window. He had a distant look on his face but that was pretty normal. "I'm hungry," Rin complained. "What about you?"

Haru shrugged as if saying 'I guess'.

"Then what to do about it?" Rin asked annoyed that Haru won't come up with an idea. "There's nothing open but supermarkets at the moment"

"We just make mackerel," Haru said.

Rin's expression froze and then went from slightly annoyed to complete disbelief. "Then you go buy it," he said.

Haru sat still stubbornly. "I haven't got any money," Haru said.

Rin sighed. "Then no mackerel," he said. "I don't want it,"

Haru turned his head and glared at Rin, 'then cook yourself' his eyes said.

"No way!" Rin practically yelled. "I can't cook!"

Haru kept on glaring at Rin until the other sighed and finally gave in. "Fine, I'll go buy that damn mackerel… but where would you want to cook anyway?" he asked.

Haru shrugged again. He would figure something out while Rin was gone. So, while Rin left to buy some mackerel, Haru went around the academy to try and find a kitchen… though it did cross his mind to go swim in the pool again he knew better than to disturb Rin further.

* * *

Rin returned to his room and found Haruka sitting with his back leaned against the door. He was surprised that the other hadn't gone into the pool but it was a relief that Haru at least had a little bit of self-control.

"Did you find anything?" Rin asked.

Haru stood up and nodded signaling to Rin to follow him before walking down the hallway with Rin in toe.

Rin wasn't surprised to realize that they were heading towards the dining hall but what surprised him was when they made their way to the kitchen (located behind the dining hall) and the fact that Haru managed to open the door without any kind of trouble.

"Since when did you have access to the kitchen?" Rin asked.

"The door was unlocked," Haru answered entering the room.

Rin followed, still trying to process what in the world was going on. Then it hit him, why were they even here? If they got caught they would be in serious trouble!

"Haru, we're not supposed to be here," Rin whispered.

Haru glared at Rin from the cooker.

_If we're not supposed to be here then stay silent as we won't be discovered_ he thought making those words pretty much obvious in the glare.

Rin understood and decided to not pick the argument with Haru. Despite him being so silent he was really good at winning arguments that didn't involve him having to go somewhere against his will. Rin handed Haru the mackerel and stepped back allowing Haru to do what he had to.

It didn't take more than about a 10 minutes time before the mackerel was ready to be eaten and Haru made an attempt to grab two plates, one for each, though it still wasn't easy for him to use the right hand so Rin stepped in and took the plates out of Haru's hand.

"I should've bought something else…" he mumbled as Haru put fish on the plates and Rin took both of them, carrying them into the dining room while Haru just followed him.

They had their mackerel in silence and Rin washed the dishes before they went to bed. It had gotten pretty late and they'd been up for way too long.

* * *

Rin woke up when he heard someone enter the room. He was too tired to find out who it was though until their voice got through to him.

"Why are you still asleep? I thought you'd been up for hours?" Sousuke asked.

Rin sat up and looked at his phone. It was already past noon. Looking down to the madras he also noticed Haru was still sleeping. It was more understandable though. Chances were Haru hadn't got any sleep at all since Thursday night.

Sousuke dropped his back on his bed and Haru picked just that moment to sit up, earning a glare from Sousuke for just being there.

Rin got up. He knew he had to get the two of them separated as soon as possible. Even if the hate was one-sided there was no point in trying to create a problem.

"Come on Haru, we need to get everything back and prepare for Makoto to come," Rin said.

Haru nodded and got up, both of them quickly got dressed before helping each other out with the madras and headed outside.

"How's your wrist doing?" Rin asked as the both of them sat down in the grass.

Haru shrugged. Rin didn't know what to get from that but he chose not to ask further questions. It was easier that way.

It was much like the first day. They just sat in silence. The sun was shining and it was a nicely warm day so none of them really minded being outside. Haru laid down at some point and it didn't take long before Rin noticed he was already asleep again.

Rin smiled. It was nice to see Haru actually getting some rest. After what the other had been through he understood why it would be so needed.

Reflecting on the weekend that had almost passed Rin realized it hadn't been as much babysitting as he'd feared. Actually it had just been Rin watching out for a really good friend. He won't mind if they had to do this some more (of course not under the same circumstances).

Rin's phone vibrated and Rin checked the text message he'd got.

* * *

_Makoto:_

_I'll be there to pick him up in an hour._

* * *

Rin looked at his message. Would it all be over in just an hour? No matter, there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

He quickly texted a reply to Makoto.

* * *

_Rin:_

_We'll be waiting_

* * *

Rin woke Haru up five minutes before Makoto would be there and gave him the information. Haru had nothing to say and just stood up with Rin. Both of them made their way to the entrance where Makoto soon arrived too.

"Hey Haru," he waved. "How've you been?" he asked.

Haru just nodded. He didn't even bother to wave.

Makoto made his way up to them and smiled at Rin quickly. "Thanks for looking out for him. Was it okay?" he asked concerned.

"It was fine," Rin answered. "He didn't cause too much trouble,"

Makoto nodded smiling gratefully at Rin once again. "I'm glad to hear that," he said before turning to Haru. "Should we go?" he asked.

Haru nodded and silently followed Makoto as they made their way back home.

Rin stood by the entrance and looked after the two male until they'd turned around the next corner before he headed back inside. He needed to make up for all the training he had missed out on during the weekend and he only had less than half a day to do so.

* * *

**So that's a nice weekend isn't it?**

**Jessie Kurosaki: Well I'm glad you found the thing with Rin helping Haru with English cute. That was the intention. **

**Well that's it for now. I don't have anything to say except that school is super annoying and takes way too much time and energy. I'm glad I wrote this one a while ago. **

**I'm getting tired of asking for the support so I just hope you'll do it anyway. **

**Jackie**


	12. Monday - September 1st

**Monday - September 1st**

* * *

"Why are they all so quiet?" Makoto asked Haru in a hushed voice as they'd taken their seats in the classroom. It was just like it had been before the weekend. Everyone had been talking until Haru and Makoto entered the classroom and then fell so silent you could almost hear a paper drop to the floor.

Haru just shrugged at Makoto's question. He didn't know what to say and then why bother saying anything.

Makoto just nodded as if he could read Haru's thoughts and didn't ask further questions about the odd silence among the other students.

School had become really uncomfortable for both Haru and Makoto. Nobody spoke to them and when they made eye contact with anyone they'd just either look away or look at them with pity in their eyes. The mood at the school was simply just depressing and Haru only wished the other students would get over it already. It wasn't like they were making coping with the accident any easier, quite the opposite.

Nagisa and Rei were waiting outside their classroom when the lunch break started. They were still acting the same as usual. Haru had to wonder if Nagisa was even able to let any kind of negative mood get to him.

"So how was your weekend Mako-chan?" Nagisa asked smiling widely at Makoto.

"It was great!" Makoto said. "All of us had a lot of fun while camping. I wish you could've all come along," he finished smiling saddened at Haru who just looked down at the floor.

"What did you do Makoto-senpai?" Rei asked as they walked down the hallway.

Makoto paused for a bit. "We did a lot of things, we went swimming, went for a hike in the area and just spent time together," he explained. It wasn't such a big deal.

"What about your weekend with Rin-chan?" Nagisa looked at Haru with curiosity shining from every fiber of his body. It caused Haru to wonder what Nagisa was even thinking about when he asked such questions.

"It was fine," Haru answered.

"What'd you do?" Nagisa asked.

_Why does that even matter?_ Haru wondered. He didn't answer Nagisa's question for that very reason and Nagisa just had to live with not getting a reply.

This caused a somewhat disappointed look to appear on Nagisa's face until Makoto opened his mouth to speak.

"What have you been doing in the weekend Nagisa?" It was obvious that was the question Nagisa had just been waiting for because he immediately started talking:

"Me and Rei-chan found this new game and went to play it and…" Nagisa went on and on about this game which he'd been playing with Rei all weekend. Makoto listened to it all with a look of interest on his face while Haru just let all the words get in through one ear and out through the other. However he'd soon come to regret that at Nagisa's final words, "I know! We should get together and play this game sometime!"

"I sure would like to try it," Makoto answered.

"You really should, it was fun," Rei added.

They started talking more about the game and Haru listened the best he could. If he were to play it (the others would most likely force him to do it by telling that water was somehow involved) he would need to know as much about it as possible. However Haru couldn't make much sense of their conversation.

After lunch break everything went back to how it were the first half of the day. Haru noticed that Makoto would keep on smiling what so ever but that the silence and looks of pity kinda got to him.

"Makoto?" Haru asked after school. "Are you okay?"

Makoto – who'd been lost in thoughts – snapped out of it and looked at Haru. "I'm fine," he answered. "We should hurry or we'll be late for practice," he then continued.

They weren't late and it turned out that Gou was acting normal now. Being acting pretty much like her usual old self, which was much of a relief to Haru.

"Gou-chan!" Nagisa called. "Do you know what Haru-chan and Rin-chan did in the weekend?"

Gou thought for a bit. "No… I haven't heard anything. I'll ask Nii-san about it!" Truth be told, Gou was curious too as to what her brother and Haru had been doing.

While the others practiced Haru just sat still looking around, just waiting for something to catch his eye and take his mind of the blue not too far away from him. The water in the pool. How he wished he could just dive into it and leave behind every single worry he had.

This was when his eyes landed on something in Gou's bag… or not in Gou's bag exactly. It was a flier that had fallen out of Gou's back with a headline reading 'Ocean Festival' in bright blue letters.

Haru decided to pick it up and before he knew it everyone's attention was on him.

"Ocean Festival?" Makoto asked reading it from the flier.

"Yeah!" Gou smiled. "They just handed them out randomly on the street. I thought it would be interesting. There's a swimming contest too," she said taking the flier from Haru and pointing in the program that was also shown on the flier.

"That sounds fun," Rei said as he, Nagisa and Makoto read through the program.

"There's also a cooking contest," Nagisa pointed out. "We should have Haru-chan participate in that!"

"There are so many contests on this program. I can't believe the festival's only three days long," Rei commented.

"Yeah it's incredible isn't it?" Gou asked. "It's this weekend, I think we should go, it's for free unless you buy something or bet on someone to win a contest,"

"I can't believe they'd bet on people!" Makoto said slightly indignant.

"They do," Gou said.

Makoto shook his head. He couldn't seem to wrap his head around it.

"I think it would be fun to go there," Gou said. "There's a lot of things to do and look at, or so it appears and I don't think it's that bad about the betting," she said.

"Gou-chan's right!" Nagisa agreed. "It'll be fun!"

And with that it was decided that they'd all be going to the Ocean Festival this upcoming weekend.

* * *

**I am not going to update this story for a couple of days until we have caught up to the days of the week. That's how things will go. It's also kinda putting me at ease because I have to do some kind of exam-like thing tomorrow and the day after that. So I might not have time to publish anything anyway, even if it doesn't take more than 10 minutes at worst. **

**That's it for now everyone. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Jackie**


	13. Friday - September 5th

**HI EVERYONE! I'm Back!**

**As of this chapter and the following, they will be pretty weird and have an awful lot of randomness to them. I had too much fun with myself and got a little carried away. I apologize for that. But I'm not going to change it, so I hope you'll enjoy what I came up with.**

**Another warning: This chapter might contain hints of pairings such as Mako/Haru, Rin/Haru and Reigisa, and maybe even some Haru/water. Though don't get your hopes too high. it is nothing more than hints and you can easily just see it as... friends being weird. But this is about as far as romance goes. **

* * *

**Friday - September 5th**

* * *

A bird flew by outside the window. Haru watched it from his spot in the bathtub. The water was getting colder by the second but he didn't mind. It felt the same to him no matter what. He'd completely lost his sense of time. The sun had been rising when he got in the bathtub and now it was up and he could hear Makoto starting to move around. Makoto had gone back to spending the night with Haru. Nobody minded but Ren and Ran – who'd been over the day before – did complain about how they missed him a bit and his mother complained that it was impossible to stop the twins from fighting when Makoto wasn't around.

Maybe Haru should make Makoto stay at home for a while. It wasn't like he minded Makoto stayed at his place but he was keeping his friend away from his family and Haru had pretty much learned to handle things on his own now, despite the broken wrist. He just had to convince Makoto, which would be the most difficult part of the task.

Speaking of Makoto: A knock was just then heard on the door and Haru looked up to meet Makoto's green eyes as the door opened. They looked somewhat shocked and Haru didn't understand a thing about that.

"What is it?" he asked after staring into Makoto's eyes for five full minutes.

"Gou…" Makoto answered. "She has put all of us up for competitions,"

Haru got out of the water. He noticed the word 'contests' was in plural and that could mean no good at all. And why had she done that in the first place? What's more, how did Makoto know of this?

"I got a text from her sending me a photo of the program and where we would be competing," Makoto answered. "I think you got one too,"

Strange… Haru didn't recall ever giving Gou his phone number since he hardly ever used his phone. He didn't even have that many phone numbers himself. Only Makoto's and Nagisa's.

Checking his phone it turned out it wasn't even from Gou, but from Nagisa.

* * *

_Nagisa:_

_It's important Haru-chan! __Look at the program. It looks like we'll be busy all day!_

* * *

Haru sighed. Yes he could tell that. He could also guess that Nagisa had been another of the minds behind this busy program. The Ocean Festival would open tonight at 6 and after that there would be nothing but contests and competitions.

"Haru, do you know what an improvising show is?" Makoto asked.

Haru shook his head. He had absolutely no idea of what an improvising show was or could come up with any clues to what it could have in store for them, but all of them had been signed up for it, (except Gou for reasons unknown)

* * *

Makoto ended up asking the same question about six hours later at school when they ran into Gou.

"Oh that?" Gou asked smiling. "That's a contest where you basically just act and improvise," she answered.

"Why are we in that contest?" Makoto asked.

"We thought it'd be fun," Gou answered.

"Who are 'we'?" Haru asked.

"Nagisa-kun and I," Gou answered. "I guess he thought it would be fun," she said.

Both Haru and Makoto kinda figured that Nagisa had somewhat been involved in this matter. They were both surprised that they hadn't just jumped to conclusions though.

Nagisa turned up just then and quickly read the situation.

"Nagisa, what's with that improvising contest?" Makoto asked.

"I just thought it would be fun to get together like that. It's basically that you just go up and perform a small play with first a team that you select and then a random team and then the one with the best amateur acting skills is pointed out by the judges," Nagisa said.

"I think it could be fun," Rei said.

Makoto nodded. "I like the idea too," he said.

Haru didn't say a word but basically he was screaming inside his head:

_No Way!_

* * *

However Haru didn't have much of a choice in the matter. When Makoto offered he could get to spend as much time in the water the following day if he participated, he just had no other choice but to come along. No need to say he still wasn't pleased with the idea.

It turned out that Gou was participating as well but for a different team. From the looks of it she had forced Rin and his swimteam to come along and 'join in on the fun' as Nagisa stated when he saw them.

There were all kinds of groups with different numbers of people in each. The numbers went from three to six. The teams were to make up an act of their everyday lives and they decided what kind of act it would be, if it would be comedy or tragedy or anything in between.

Somehow Haru ended up being the captain from his team and got the chance to pick a name for the team.

"Team Free," he decided without giving it much thought. Makoto smiled at this. A typical Haru-thing to say.

What Team Free ended up making was an unwilling comedy. The best part was when someone mentioned the pool and Makoto had to wrap his arms around Haru to make sure he didn't run right into the ocean full speed. Nagisa played well too. He was also a good source of amusement to those watching. Makoto and Rei had their hands full trying to restrain the other two.

Rin's team – Team Shark in lack of any better names – also made a comedy mostly based on Momo trying to be at Gou's side all the time and Rin trying to get him away while Ai and Sousuke just stood in the back leaving the stage to the others.

After this came the mixed teams. Rei and Nagisa were up as the first team. They were told to act like a couple while another girl would act as Nagisa's best friend who just got heartbroken. The fourth player had to pick a role for himself. It turned out funnier than expected. Nagisa was all lovey-dovey with Rei and barely cared that his friend was heartbroken while she played the perfect role of broken mess he kept on talking about how nice it was being with Rei until the knight in shining armor came and comforted her instead.

"I feel kinda bad about it," Nagisa said as he sat back next to the others along with Rei.

A few rounds passed before it was Makoto's and Haru's turn. It turned out Rin and Ai had been selected for this round as well. Haru got the role of passive character while Rin and Makoto got to be his admires in love and want him for themselves while Ai was supposed to get some other good idea. Which ended up with him trying to make all three of them go together. It turned into a lot of awkwardness since all four of them felt out of character while performing this play but people couldn't seem to stop laughing when Makoto and Rin took turns pulling Haru's arms and afterwards starting to argue while Haru tried to sneak to the beach to just take a closer look at the water… He didn't make it far before both Rin and Makoto pulled him back.

It came to an end when Makoto asked:

"Who would you rather be with?"

"Ocean-chan," Haru declared.

Rin stood dumbstruck while Makoto just smiled saying that if that was what he wanted he could get that and everyone else seemed pleased with that act.

Despite their 'efforts' the winner of the improvising contest was the girl who had played Nagisa's broken friend for her ability to cry fake tears. Nobody minded that. At least they had had their fun trying to be something they weren't.

Tomorrow would be different though. Then they would be doing something they were actually good at.

* * *

**Jessie Kurosaki: To answer your question, no, not any more romantic feelings than you have read so far. I'm guessing what's in this chapter is the closest you get to it. But you're right on the part with school people acting like that is pretty boring. That's actually why I decided to just move on to Friday when something different would happen. I didn't feel like writing that. **

**This is it for today. Hope you felt just a bit entertained by this. And hopefully it has satisfied some of you who wanted to see romance.**

**I'll update again tomorrow. But this is it for now. **

**Jackie**


	14. Saturday - September 6th

**Saturday - September 6th**

* * *

It was the 2nd day of the Ocean Festival. Makoto was standing in the sand on the beach with Nagisa and Rei. They were warming up for the swimming tournament that would begin in about half an hour. They were all aware it was a bit early to start warming up but they found it was a good idea to get there a bit earlier. Besides Haru couldn't wait to get into the water.

That's where he was now. He was sitting in the water, wearing his swimsuit all relaxed as he felt the waves make their way around him and hit his body. He was aware Makoto was watching him and therefor he won't dare go further out than he could still sit in the water without getting the plaster wet. At the moment said plaster was resting on top of his knees while receiving annoyed glares from the boy wearing it.

Haru had started counting down the days till when it would get off. There were less than two weeks until that day. He'd already endured almost three weeks of this living hell.

Haru heard someone walking up to him from behind. He turned his head to see Makoto standing there.

"Haru," his friend said. "Nagisa is gonna swim soon. I'll go watch him," he paused for a bit until Haru nodded. "You stay here and keep your wrist out of the water, okay?" Makoto looked at Haru like a strict mother.

_Yes MaMakoto_ Haru thought while looking into Makoto's eyes silently telling him that he understood.

Makoto nodded smiling just as kindly as ever and left Haru.

Haru could only dream of how it would feel to be all covered in water, to float around, or even swim. It felt like ages since he last had a swim, though it was only a week ago and he'd been in that pool for hours, swimming and floating as he pleased until Rin had come and got him out of the water.

He would've rather stayed in the water all day… Damn Rin who had to wake up at all. But nobody could help it. Haru was just glad Makoto had bought the lie with him finding a way to clean the plaster without getting it wet.

The wind picked up and the waves got a little higher than before. Haru had lost his sense of time. Why weren't the others back yet? Well, if they hadn't returned then won't it mean that they won't be back any time soon? The wind was kinda chilly and the water felt much warmer. Haru was sure it won't hurt to get a little further out and float for a bit. As long as the wrist in plaster rested on his body, he should be good anyway.

So that was why Haru was soon floating around, just letting the waves carrying him wherever he pleased. It was relaxing just floating like this but he'd much rather swim than just float. But sadly that…

"Hey you!" some guy yelled catching Haru's attention. "If you're gonna compete in the swimming tournament you should get in place!" he yelled.

"I only swim free…" Haru said with that bored attitude of his.

"Well, then hurry it up! That's about to start!" The guy yelled pulling Haru to the beginning line by his left wrist.

Haru blinked confused. He hadn't even signed up for this but here he was suddenly swimming free in the ocean with other swimmers. How did this even happen again?

"GO!" Someone yelled and the swimmers took off.

Haru's wrist had already gotten completely soaked so what the hell was there to do? What else could go wrong? He started swimming as well not really caring for anything other than each stroke.

* * *

On shore Makoto stood between Nagisa and Rei. They were all waiting for their times to be listed. They still hadn't finished the breast stroke which they'd started ranking from last place to first place.

"Oi, Makoto?" Someone poked Makoto's shoulder.

The tall boy turned his head and found himself looking into Rin's face.

"Rin? What are you doing here?" Makoto asked surprised. He hadn't seen Rin in the Butterfly tournament and they were swimming Free now as far as Makoto was concerned.

"Never mind me. Check the one in the lead," Rin demanded nodding in the direction of the swimmers in the water.

Makoto followed the direction with his gaze and found himself standing with his mouth wide open as he caught sight of the one in the lead. It couldn't be… "Haru?" he asked.

"I thought you'd got nothing to do with that…" Rin mumbled. "How do you think he got there?"

"I thought I saw someone dragging Haru-chan to the start line earlier," Nagisa butted in.

Makoto glared. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked.

"Well, his right wrist was in the water so I couldn't be sure if it was Haru-chan and it would've already been too late," Nagisa smiled knowingly.

Makoto sighed. The question was now who was the guy and how did he catch sight of Haru? Maybe Haru would have some of the answers, at least for the last question. Makoto hoped that was the case, for Haru's sake.

Haru made it to finish as the first one and got out of the water shortly after knowing that Makoto would most likely be looking for him at the moment. He was right on that one.

As soon as he was back on dry land an annoyed Makoto could be found right in front of him.

"Haru, what were you doing in the water?" Makoto asked glaring at the blue eyed the best he could.

"Floating… swimming," Haru answered truthfully.

Makoto realized he won't get much further explanations out of Haru and therefore left the subject for the time being. "Come on," he said pulling Haru's left wrist. "We're going to the hospital to get another plaster. Your next contest isn't until in a few hours,"

Haru didn't object. He just followed Makoto willingly. He could still sense the slight angry, slightly annoyed aura around the other, making the air feel much heavier than it usually was. He just hoped the doctor from last Saturday won't be there…

* * *

Luck just wasn't on Haru's side that day. He and Makoto got in almost immediately after their arrival at the hospital and guess who welcomed them… The doctor from last weekend. Haru nodded as the man recognized him and smiled greeting him.

"He got his plaster wet," Makoto just said showing the messed up plaster.

"Again?" the doctor asked as he got the wet plaster off. "I assume you went swimming again too," he looked at Haru.

"Again?" Makoto asked blinking confused.

The doctor looked at Makoto, obviously surprised. "He was here last weekend with some other guy," He answered.

Makoto looked at Haru. "Haru, Is that true?" he asked.

Haru said nothing. He just nodded not meeting Makoto's hurt eyes.

"What happened?" Makoto asked as the doctor changed the plaster on Haru's wrist.

"I coped with the car accident," Haru answered.

Makoto nodded understanding. Haru's best way of coping with things hitting him emotionally was usually swimming. It didn't really come as a surprise. What came as a surprise was that Rin hadn't told him and that Haru had obviously lied about it. He would need to take this conversation with both of them some other time.

They got checked out around 15 minutes later and left the hospital in silence. What was there to say anyway? Makoto was left to his own thoughts and Haru just didn't really feel like talking at the moment. There was nothing to say anyway.

They got back in time for the drawing contest and Haru did compete. Though he didn't win anything since he only went into it half-hearted. Nagisa claimed that he could've done a lot better than what he did, which was true however Haru just didn't feel like it.

Makoto couldn't seem to catch sight of Rin anywhere the rest of the day even if he looked as hard as he possibly could the boy seemed to have disappeared completely. Nobody else had seen him either.

* * *

Night came and Makoto and Haru went to Makoto's place to stay there for the night. They'd barely spoken a word to each other since they'd been at the hospital and this worried Haru a lot to say the least.

"Are you angry with me?" he asked as they laid in bed in Makoto's room.

Makoto turned his head to look at Haru, surprised. "I'm not angry," he answered. "Disappointed, yes. Angry, no," he finished as he and Haru made eye contact.

Haru was relieved. That was good to hear. "And Rin?" he asked just to be sure.

"I have to speak to him but I'm not angry with him. I guess it's just disappointment in his case too," Makoto answered honestly.

Haru smiled. He'd seen it coming. Makoto wasn't the type of guy who would get angry with someone just because. Even if they'd hurt him and kept things hidden from him and lied to him he still believed in the best in people.

"Makoto," Haru asked.

"Mmm…" Makoto mumbled already half asleep. It had been a long day for him.

"I'm sorry," Haru said feeling like that was the right thing to do. After all he did take advantage of Makoto's naivety and told him a lie.

"Apology accepted…" Makoto mumbled. He'd closed his eyes now. "Goodnight Haru,"

Shortly after that, both boys were asleep. Both happy there was nothing bad between them.


	15. Sunday - September 7th

**Sunday - September 7th**

* * *

"Rei-chan!" Nagisa called wrapping an arm around Rei's shoulders. "I wanna go swimming in the ocean!"

"You can swim by yourself if you want to Nagisa-kun, Remember Haruka-senpai is not allowed to swim with us," Rei said.

"But it's boring to swim on my own! Won't you go with me Rei-chan?" Nagisa begged.

Rei sighed and looked at Makoto and Haru who were walking ahead of them.

"It's fine if the two of you wanna go swim," Makoto told them. "We'll just see you around". All four of them had been hanging out together during the entire festival so Makoto thought it would actually be a good idea to split up and explore in pairs instead of the usual group.

"If you say so, Mako-chan," Nagisa said as he waved while dragging Rei along with him.

Makoto continued on walking with Haru by his side. He was looking through the crowd for a certain someone who he needed to have a word with.

"It's possible Rin isn't gonna be here today," Haru said from about half a step behind Makoto.

"It's still worth looking. You can't say anything for sure unless you have proof," Makoto answered.

They continued on walking and Makoto kept on looking for Rin regardless of what Haru had stated. He needed to find Rin and ask him about last weekend. However the further he looked the more he came to believe that Haru was actually right and that Rin wasn't at the festival.

However Haru was proven wrong when Makoto thought he heard a voice closing in on them from behind while they were looking at t-shirts.

"…That expensive just because it's the last day!" Rin practically yelled and Makoto and Haru both turned their heads in his direction. They weren't the only ones. Rin was drawing a lot of attention due to his irritation. He was walking with Sousuke who was trying to silently tell Rin that he was drawing a lot of attention but Rin seemed to ignore everything completely. "I mean, it's not fair!" Rin yelled.

"Rin!" Makoto called as he stood up and waved at Rin to catch his attention.

This snapped Rin out of his irritation and he turned to face Haru and Makoto. "Haru, Makoto," he said blinking a couple of times.

"Rin I need to talk to you for a second," Makoto said putting up a serious expression.

"About what?" Rin asked. He sorta knew what was coming but he had to ask in the hopes that his intuition was wrong.

"Somewhere more private," Makoto said.

"Okay…" Rin said looking at Sousuke. "Could you wait here with Haru?" He didn't want Sousuke to listen to whatever was coming.

"Actually, I just remember I have to be somewhere," Sousuke lied. It wouldn't turn into anything good if Sousuke and Haru were left alone together or it won't matter because they would just ignore each other.

"Okay…" Rin mumbled.

"I'll go with you," Haru said not wanting to be left all alone. Even if he knew that both Makoto and Rin would come back he'd still rather come with them. Besides chances were Rin would need his mental backup and he was also responsible for what had happened last weekend.

Makoto just nodded as an answer before leading the way a little outside the area where the festival would be held before he stopped and turned to look at Rin.

"Did you know that yesterday wasn't the first time Haru's plaster was messed up?" Makoto asked, getting straight to the point.

For a while Rin just looked down at his shoes. He didn't want to tell the truth knowing what the consequences would be. However if he lied Makoto would know right away and that would leave him with even worse consequences. He looked up to meet Makoto's green eyes. "Yeah, I knew," he answered.

"How did it happen?" Makoto asked.

"Well, we'd both gone to bed on Friday night and when I woke up early Saturday morning, Haru had gone missing. I found him in the pool and it turned out he'd been there for hours," Rin said.

Makoto turned to look at Haru. "Is that true, Haru?" he asked.

Haru just nodded.

"Why?"

"It's the only way I could cope," Haru answered. He too looked down at his feet now.

Makoto nodded. He won't admit he hadn't seen it coming. Though when Haru had said he was fine and told Makoto that he could just go camping with his family for the weekend, Makoto had believed Haru completely.

"Then why would you say you were fine?" Makoto asked.

Haru looked up to meet Makoto's eyes. "Because if I didn't, you won't have gone camping with your family. I know that's your way of coping and you needed it too," he finished.

As much as Makoto hated to admit it, Haru was right. He couldn't help but be glad that Haru would do that for him.

"Why would you keep it a secret?" Makoto now looked at both Rin and Haru.

"I had a feeling you'd be angry if I told you," Rin answered

"I just wanted Rin to say it," Haru explained himself.

Makoto understood those reasons too. "So, you didn't know that Haru told me that he'd found a way to clean the plaster from Nagisa's drawings?" Makoto asked Rin.

"What?" Rin asked surprised before looking at Haru and then back at Makoto. "Did he seriously do that?"

Makoto and Haru both nodded at that.

Rin stared at Haru in disbelief. He knew it was easy to make Makoto believe in a story. It wasn't the first time he'd heard of that. However that Haru would tell Makoto a direct lie for the sake of another friend was something Rin had never imagined he could do.

"Well, I'm out of questions," Makoto said smiling at both Rin and Haru. "Though the next time this happens you should just tell me," he looked at Rin.

Rin nodded. He'd learned his lesson. It was better to tell someone if you'd made a mistake than walk around always being afraid they'd find out. And when Rin looked at Haru, he could tell that Haru had learned that lesson too.

"Well, should we go back?" Makoto asked.

Rin and Haru nodded and all three of them walked back to the festival to get back to what they'd been doing before. Rin went to look for Sousuke.

"You could stay with us until you find him?" Makoto offered.

"Nah, I think I know where I'll find him," Rin answered. "Thanks anyway, I'll see you around," he left Haru and Makoto in the middle of the crowd with those words.

Haru and Makoto then continued to walk around at the festival, however they didn't find much interesting to do. Rin was right. They had increased the prizes on everything because it was the last day of the Ocean Festival.

When it was time for the festival to close, Makoto and Haru went to the beach in search for Nagisa and Rei. They were easy to find. Rei was sitting in the sand while Nagisa was sitting in the water.

"Nagisa, Rei!" Makoto waved at the two and both looked up at the seniors.

"Mako-chan! Haru-chan!" Nagisa called getting out of the water to get up to them.

"Nagisa-kun!" Rei called getting up as well. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Nagisa's shoulders.

"Thanks, Rei-chan," Nagisa smiled at Rei before sneezing.

"You spend too much time in the water, Nagisa-kun," Rei sighed, causing Makoto to laugh and Haru to smile. Nagisa smiled too assuring Rei there was no need to worry before the group headed home.

* * *

**And we're back to being serious again. **

**So I still hope that you're all enjoying this story as much as I am. **

**There is no further comment for now so I'm out. **

**Jackie**


	16. Tuesday - September 9th

**Tuesday - September 9th**

* * *

A loud sneeze was ringing through the hallways at Iwatobi high, making it easy for Haru and Makoto to find Rei and Nagisa. The blonde boy's nose was slightly red and he looked a bit paler than usual. He had looked almost the same the day before, but today it was worse.

"Nagisa," Makoto asked concerned as he and Haru reached the 2nd years. "Are you sure you're not sick?" he asked.

"I'm fine Mako-chan," Nagisa said before cleaning his nose for the 100th time that day.

"I won't be so sure," Gou said. "He has been like that ever since morning," she glared at Nagisa. "Don't try to lie or anything,"

"I'm not lying," Nagisa said. "I'm fi-" He was interrupted by another sneeze. "Almost…"

"You remind me a lot of Haru at that point…" Makoto mumbled eying the black haired boy. He wondered if Haru had somehow wiped off on Nagisa.

"It's just a cold, Mako-chan," Nagisa smiled before heading off to the roof where they'd have their lunch. Gou wanted to inspect it again to see if they had learned something from the last time she did this.

The others followed the short boy, all concerned about him and the cold he seemed to have caught.

The inspection went as predicted. Makoto and Rei had both improved and both got a score of over 70% while Nagisa and Haru hadn't changed a bit. But everyone had seen that coming from a mile away. It would take a lot to get Nagisa to drop the "Rock" and "Hopping" bread and it would take even more to make Haru add more to his lunch than maceral.

"You're hopeless," Gou breathed as she stared at the unhealthy bread and the fish.

"Well, I guess you can't expect anything else from Nagisa and Haru," Makoto commented with a smile.

"In what ways can I improve?" Rei wanted to know and Gou went on with a long description of what Rei could do better to make his lunch healthier. Makoto listened to Gou's words too while Haru and Nagisa just started eating their lunch, not really caring for what the girl was saying.

* * *

After the lunch break the 2nd years went to have their afternoon classes. The first up would be the math class. Every now and then Rei would look over his shoulder to notice that Nagisa was just sitting there and not really paying any attention to what their teacher was saying. Then again, math wasn't exactly Nagisa's best subject so Rei understood this, but he still worried about the blonde boy.

When math finished they had a small break until the history class would start and Rei went to Nagisa's table to see how he was doing. Nagisa was by then lying on the table, his cheeks and nose were red while the rest of him was pale. His eyes were half closed.

"Nagisa-kun?" Rei asked concerned.

Nagisa snapped out of it and opened his eyes. "Rei-chan!" he cried smiling at the boy. "I'm fine, I was just sleepy. You know how I hate math,"

"You're not so good at it either, Nagisa-kun," Rei said. "But you look pale to me,"

"I'm fine," the boy said before sneezing once more. Rei placed a hand under Nagisa's bangs.

"You seem warm, Nagisa-kun…" he mumbled.

Nagisa put on a cheerful smile. "I'm fine, Rei-chan," he repeated and Rei had no other choice but to back off, seeing as their history teacher had just entered the classroom. Hopefully Nagisa's behavior in class would change. History was his best subject and he usually paid attention to the classes, plus, their teacher was nice and understanding which only made Nagisa's results better.

Their class started and Rei did his best to pay attention, though Nagisa's wellbeing was bothering him a lot more than he'd expected. Half way through the lesson Rei decided to turn his head to look at Nagisa for just a second and see if he was alright. He was shocked to realize that Nagisa had fallen asleep with his head resting on his arms.

"Hazuki-kun?" Their teacher called, picking just that moment to try and make contact with Nagisa. However the boy didn't respond. "Hazuki-kun?" The teacher went down to Nagisa's desk and started shaking the boy gently. "Wake up, Hazuki-kun," he demanded.

The entire class followed as this unusual incident played out right in front of them.

Nagisa blinked and sat up. "What…?" he mumbled sleepy.

"You fell asleep, Hazuki-kun," the history teacher said. He quickly took a look at Nagisa's face, his eyes and then felt his forehead.

"I'm fine…" Nagisa grabbed a tissue and cleaned his nose.

"I suggest you go home, Hazuki-kun," the teacher said. "Not only for your own sake, but your classmates as well. You'll infect them if you stay. I'd say you've come down with a nasty cold and you should stay home until you've gotten better," he said. "You're dismissed for today, Hazuki-kun. Now go on home,"

Nagisa was too tired and too sick to bother arguing with their teacher. He just went on and packed up his stuff before leaving class. Rei's gaze following him all the way until he closed the door behind him.

* * *

"I wonder if Nagisa will be swimming with us today," Makoto said as he and Haru exited their classroom to go to the pool.

Haru shrugged. "He insists that he is fine," he just stated and Makoto nodded. That was true.

When the two third years made it to the pool they noticed both Rei and Gou were already there, but there was no sight of Nagisa anywhere.

"Where's Nagisa?" Makoto asked as he made it to the others. He had already changed, so had Rei.

"Nagisa-kun was dismissed from History class," Rei said. "They say he has come down with a nasty cold,"

Makoto's face was filled with concern. "We should go see him," he said. "To see how he is doing,"

Rei nodded. "We can do it tomorrow. I think Nagisa-kun needs rest," he answered.

Makoto nodded. "I guess that's a good idea," he agreed.

They ended swimming club early that day. It was pretty boring just with Rei and Makoto being able to swim. All of them found that something important was missing. Nagisa's cheerful self should've been there with them and even Haru could sense this.

* * *

**I hope you liked the change, that we didn't follow Haru and Makoto as much in this chapter, I mean. **

**That's all for now.**

**Jackie**


	17. Thursday - September 11th

**Thursday - September 11th**

* * *

"WHAT!" Gou yelled in disbelief. "Nagisa-kun is missing again today?" she looked at Rei with wide eyes as the swimmer nodded.

"His fever seems to be getting worse each passing day," Rei answered.

"Has Nagisa ever been this sick before?" Makoto asked looking at Haru, clearly expecting an answer.

Haru spoke in his usual, emotionless voice, cleaned for every emotion. "How should I know?"

Makoto nodded at this. Of course Haru won't know if Nagisa had ever been this sick before. Even if they were the two who had known him for the longest time, they had only seen him at the swim club and until he joined their relay team, they hadn't really spoken to him often.

"I think we should pay him a visit," Makoto said. "He'd do the same for us if we were sick," he continued.

Rei nodded in response. He'd visited Nagisa the day before but it won't hurt to visit him again today. He didn't seem to enjoy being stuck at home.

It was quickly decided then that they would cancel practice today to go and visit Nagisa instead.

* * *

School ended and Rei, Haru and Makoto met outside the building to go visit Nagisa together. They didn't say much on the way there. There wasn't really much to say. Makoto asked Rei about how Nagisa had been the other day and if he had any idea what was wrong with him.

"His mother said it was a really bad cold or even an influenza," Rei answered to this and Makoto nodded. He felt really bad for the shorter boy.

It turned out none of Nagisa's family was even home and the door was unlocked.

"Maybe he's feeling better?" Makoto asked as Rei opened the unlocked door.

Haru just send his taller friend a look that couldn't be mistaken as anything other than 'I don't think so'.

"Nagisa-kun?" Rei called and led the way through the house, to Nagisa's room. The boy was lying in bed with at least two blankets covering his body. Next to him was an empty cup of tea and a lot of tissues. When Makoto looked at Nagisa's eyes, he could tell they were only half open and he looked even worse than he did two days ago.

"Rei-chan? Mako-chan? Haru-chan?" Nagisa looked at each of them with those half closed eyes.

"Nagisa," Makoto looked at him worriedly. "How are you?"

Nagisa said nothing for a while. He just looked to his empty cup. "bad…" He finally said.

Rei checked Nagisa's temperature. "Why are you all alone?" He asked.

"Mom needed to go work and my sister needed to pick up something… She left some time ago…" Nagisa mumbled. "I feel warm…" he then said.

Nagisa was really sweaty. Makoto – who had heard that should be a good sign of recovery – went and took a few of the blankets away. It turned out there were at least a few. Rei went to find a wet cloth to put on Nagisa's forehead while Haru took the cup of tea and prepared some more – on Nagisa's request.

Nagisa wanted to hear how everything was and after they had all finished making the boy comfortable, they all sat around him while Makoto talked. He talked about everything that had happened since Nagisa went home from school Tuesday afternoon. What he and Haru had been doing and how the swim club went. Nagisa ended up falling asleep to the sound of Makoto's voice.

A while later Makoto stopped talking and shortly after that, Nagisa's sister returned and the three boys left the house.

* * *

While riding the train home Haru wondered, when was the last time he'd ever been sick? He hardly ever caught a cold. This was except for the time last year when he went into the pool while the weather was still cold. He still never listened to Makoto's warnings about that though. The cold hadn't even been bad.

The only other time Haru could recall being sick was back in 6th grade… How did it even feel to be so sick? That was a thing Haru wasn't able to recall. He remembered nothing but staying in his bed from the time in 6th grade and that didn't really give him much of a clue.

When Makoto's head fell to rest on Haru's shoulder, Haru snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his green eyed friend. He had fallen asleep while Haru had been lost in thoughts. This was unusual for Makoto. He would usually stay awake and Haru got a feeling that Makoto was getting sick too.

Haru decided to do nothing about it at the moment. There was no reason to. If Makoto needed sleep he had no problem allowing him to sleep. Though why did he have to sleep with his head on Haru's shoulder like that?

Only a few minutes later their stop was announced and Haru looked at Makoto. Now was the time to wake him up.

"Makoto," Haru said, shaking the other's body softly.

Makoto sat up and blinked. "Sorry," he smiled.

"It's our stop now," Haru just said while standing. Makoto got up as well and followed Haru out of the train and all the way back to Haru's place. There was now only a week left until Haru would get rid of the plaster around his wrist.

* * *

**I'm sorry the chapter is so short this time. I wasn't even aware I'd written such a short chapter in this story, only one and half a page in Word while normally it's two pages.**

**Anyway I'd like to thank all those leaving the 9 reviews that this story has got so far, and also those 7 people who favorited. I appreciate it a lot. **

**Now would one of you nice people please tell my teachers that it should be illegal to put school in the middle of a vacation, See there is this holiday today (Thursday - May 14th) in Denmark. (I don't know if you guys have it in the rest of the world) but while we would normally get both Thursday and Friday off from school, this time the teachers decided that since Friday isn't exactly a holiday, then of course we have to go to school. Why is that anyway? My math teacher even told us he didn't expect half the class to show up.**

**Okay that's just my frustration. Sorry. **

**Anyway thinks for sticking with the story so far and for favoriting and following and reviewing. **

**Jackie**


	18. Friday - September 12th

**Friday - September 12th**

* * *

Haru woke up on Friday morning noticing the sun was already shining clearly through the window. He usually never woke up this late. Of course he'd oversleep from time to time but it had never been this bad. If he slept for too long on a school day then Makoto would always be there to wake him up. But since he didn't like having to rely on other people like that, Haru usually didn't oversleep.

But this morning was different. Looking at his watch, Haru noticed that it was already way past when Makoto would usually wake him up. When he then looked to Makoto, it turned out he was still asleep.

"Makoto," Haru said as he sat up. He leaned forward and placed a hand on Makoto's shoulder, shaking him lightly.

"Haru…?" Makoto mumbled still half asleep.

"We'll be late," Was all Haru said. It was enough though. Makoto's eyes opened widely and he sat up straight.

"We overslept!" He almost yelled before hurrying out of bed to get dressed. Haru got out of bed and dressed as well. No soaking in the bathtub for today…

Makoto was in a hurry because he didn't usually oversleep and Haru just went along with it. The problem was that Makoto was so hasty he almost forgot about breakfast, and Haru only managed to grab a bit of food before hurrying out the door after Makoto.

It wasn't really like Haru cared much about being late for school or anything. But he knew that if he didn't catch up to Makoto, the other would stop until he did.

The two only just made it before class started and sat down in their seats. Makoto's breathing was heavy like it was after he'd been swimming while Haru's breathing was only a little heavier than what was usual for him.

* * *

The classes went on like they usually did. The teacher speaking and the class taking notes. As they did so Haru got a feeling that something wasn't right, something he was supposed to know about, but didn't. It was slightly irritating.

Lunch break came and Makoto and Haru met up with Rei and Gou again. They ate in silence for a while until Makoto decided to break it.

"Rei, How's Nagisa doing?" Makoto looked at Rei who just then got a smile on his face.

"His sister says he's doing better today," Rei said. "His fever has gone down a bit,"

Makoto smiled happily. "That's good news," he said.

They fell silent once again. There wasn't really anything to say and the conversation about Nagisa wasn't really going anywhere.

Makoto finished up his lunch and put the box aside before resting his head in one hand. Haru watched him carefully through the corner of his eye as he finished his own lunch as well. Makoto seemed to be tired and was it just Haru or…

"Are you okay, Makoto-senpai?" Gou asked, causing everyone to snap out of what they were thinking and look at Makoto.

"Who, me?" Makoto asked, "I'm fine. Why?" he looked questioning at Gou.

"You look a little paler than usual," Gou explained before shaking her head. "No, it's just me, never mind," she smiled kindly and looked away. Rei did so too, but Haru kept on looking at Makoto.

It surprised him that Gou was right. Looking closer at Makoto he did look a bit paler than usual. It kinda made sense now. Also why Makoto had overslept this morning and all.

"Makoto," Haru met his best friend's eyes. Haru send him a worried look to which Makoto answered with a look that was supposed to assure Haru that he was fine. However Haru just shrugged at this. He didn't believe it.

None of the two noticed as Rei and Gou exchanged looks while wondering why it was always like that with Makoto, Haru and Nagisa. It was the 3rd time within a month that one of them had denied that there was something wrong with them, even though it was obvious to everyone.

* * *

Haru kept an eye on Makoto for the rest of the day until classes were over. The other seemed like he was fine but Haru noticed more than one sign that he wasn't feeling well.

They were going towards the pool when Makoto suddenly got a coughing fit. He leaned against the wall while trying to catch his breath through it. Haru stood still next to him.

"I'll walk you home," Haru just said when Makoto finally stopped coughing.

"Thanks Haru," Makoto just said.

They walked out of the building together and Haru went to the pool to tell Gou that Makoto won't be there. This caused the girl to cancel. There was no point in practicing if it was just Rei who could swim, at least not if you asked Rei and Gou.

Haru then walked back to Makoto and they walked home together. They walked to Makoto's home and luckily Makoto's mother could tell that something was wrong right away.

"You just go on home, Haru," she said kindly. "It would be bad if you got infected as well,"

Haru just nodded. Then he turned around and walked home slowly.

The air was getting cold as he walked up the stairs. He stopped about half way to his home to look at his surroundings. The sun was nearing the horizon but there was still some time until it would get dark. Haru wondered what he should do to make the rest of the day pass. Since Makoto helped him with most chores

Haru looked at his phone. He would also have the weekend off and without Makoto around and without being permitted to swim or anything what was he supposed to do?

He opened his text messages. Maybe he had an idea, but it was far from certain that it would work out.

* * *

_Haruka:_

_You got some time this weekend?_

* * *

It didn't take long before he received an answer.

* * *

_Rin:_

_Sorry. Booked the weekend for intense training_

* * *

Haruka sighed as he read that message. His idea would be nothing at all. But maybe it was healthy for him to actually be alone for some time. Ever since he broke his wrist he hadn't spent a single moment alone, unless he'd got to use the toilet. It would've just been weird if Makoto had followed him out there…

Slowly turning on his heel, Haru continued on his way up the stairs to his home. When he thought about it, maybe it wasn't so bad to have his house to himself for some time again.

* * *

**Jessie Kurosaki: I'm glad you find it cute. It's great to know. and I'm so glad you leave so many reviews. Thanks a million. **

**I was afraid I won't make it for today's chapter, but thankfully I did. I hope you all enjoyed it. There won't be any chapters this weekend though, so that's too bad. But look on the bright side. In less than a week Haru is free again :) I hope you look forward to that, even if it means the end of this story. **

**That's all for tonight. **

**Jackie**


	19. Monday - September 15th

**Monday - September 15th**

* * *

Haru went to school by himself this morning. He'd spend all weekend on his own and it had actually been nice. It wasn't like he didn't like having Makoto around so much, it was just a nice change considering he hadn't had much time alone since he broke his wrist.

Though, being sick didn't prevent the worried Makoto from keeping tabs on Haru as much as possible. He would send Haru texts every day to make sure he kept his wrist dry at all times.

This morning was no different. As Haru left his house he received a text from Makoto yet again.

* * *

_Makoto:_

_Haru, your wrist still dry?_

* * *

This was common and Haru just sighed before texting his short answer.

* * *

_Haru:_

_Yes._

* * *

Haru looked at the time on his display. It was earlier than it had been the other days during the weekend that Makoto texted him.

As if on cue, just then another message came, commenting on Haru's exact thoughts as if Makoto had been there himself to read the questions in his eyes.

* * *

_Makoto:_

_I'm doing better. I think I'll be able to come back to school tomorrow. Nagisa should be back today already._

* * *

Haru wondered how Makoto knew that Nagisa was coming back to school but since it wasn't important, he didn't ask. Besides he would figure out the answer one way or another anyways. There was about a 99% chance that the short boy had texted Makoto about it though.

It was silent as Haru walked all the way to the school and he spend most of the day by himself until lunch when a bubbly Nagisa ran up to him with a cheerful expression on his face.

"Haru-chan!" He called. "Hurry!" He waved and led Haru to follow him.

_When is he ever gonna drop the –chan?_ Haru questioned himself while doing so.

Nagisa led him to the roof where Rei and Gou were already waiting. Haru got slightly irritated. Why did Nagisa feel like he had to go get him up here when he was already planning on going in the first place? It seemed stupid to Haru.

"How is Makoto-senpai?" Rei asked concerned as Haru sat down between him and Nagisa.

"He says he'll be back tomorrow," Haru answered while starting to eat his mackerel.

"That's good news!" Nagisa smiled. "Then we'll all be back at full strength,"

Rei smiled and nodded. "Looks like it, Nagisa-kun," he said.

Haru said nothing as he just continued on eating. There was nothing to say anyways so why bother? Besides, it was impossible to get into the conversation that Rei and Nagisa were having.

"Haruka-senpai?" Gou asked. "Nii-san says you texted him last Friday,"

Haru shrugged. "I did," Was the answer.

"If you were lonely you should've just said so," Gou said smiling kindly.

"It's fine," Haru said. "It was just unusual not having anyone around,"

Gou nodded. "That's right. Makoto-senpai has been around you ever since your wrist broke, right?" She eyed the plaster that was still around Haru's wrist for a little while longer. "When is it taken off anyway?" she asked.

"The 18th" Haru answered.

"Wow Haru-chan, that's soon!" Nagisa said, finally dropping the conversation with Rei that had just gotten weirder and weirder by the second.

"It is," Rei smiled.

"We should celebrate that he has lasted a month without water," Nagisa cheered.

"It hasn't been entirely without water," Rei said. "Forgot last weekend when he was swimming Free during the Ocean Festival?"

"Or the weekend before then when he swum for hours in the Samezuka-pool?" Gou asked while smiling.

"How do you…?" Haru started off.

"I overheard your conversation at the festival with Nii-san and Makoto-senpai," she answered.

Haru nodded at that. Rei and Nagisa looked from Haru to Gou and back.

"What happened then?" Rei asked.

"Nii-san woke up the morning after you dropped Haruka-senpai off and found him swimming in the pool. He then took Haruka-senpai to the hospital and had the plaster fixed," she smiled at this point while Haru's face remained expressionless.

"What did Mako-chan say?" Nagisa asked.

"From what I heard, Makoto-senpai didn't find out until the festival when Haruka-senpai was swimming and afterwards taken to the hospital to get the plaster replaced," Gou said.

"How did you keep that secret, Haru-chan?" Nagisa said.

Haru looked away. He wasn't ashamed of much but now right now the fact that he'd lied to Makoto made him feel pretty bad. "I told him I'd found a way to clean the plaster," he said.

"And Makoto-senpai believed it?" Rei asked in disbelief.

Haru nodded while Nagisa cheered:

"That's Mako-chan," he was then silent for a second. "But we should still hold a party," he said.

"We talked about a pool-party once," Rei reminded him, causing Haru's head to snap up in his direction.

"Yeah!" Nagisa smiled.

"Guys no!" Gou said. The others looked at her as she got a secretive expression on her face. "No pool-party," she said.

"Why not, Gou-chan?" Nagisa whined.

"Because I say so," was Gou's final saying in the matter before all of them had to return to class.

* * *

As school ended Haru received a text from Nagisa.

* * *

_Nagisa:_

_This is from Gou-chan to you Haru-chan_

_Don't come to practice today. You can visit Makoto-senpai and bring him a gift from all of us. You could buy him some cookies if you want. Gou_

* * *

Haru just nodded. He didn't answer and there was no need. All he had to do was follow the instructions. He hadn't planned on visiting Makoto, but since he was told to do so there was no other choice.

* * *

**I know. Here it's no longer Monday. It's Tuesday morning, but I was out recording some songs yesterday and came home late and was too exhausted to remember publishing. I remembered when I got up this morning, so seeing as I'm too tired to go to school on time today, I just publish one now, and one in about 12 hours time (maybe less)**

**So I guess I'll see you guys later **

**Jackie**


	20. Tuesday - September 16th

**Tuesday - September 16th**

* * *

On this morning while sitting in the bathtub Haru heard some familiar sounds coming from around his house. The first one was a knocking on the door. Then a voice saying they were coming in, then he heard footsteps and calling and then finally a knock on the bathroom door.

"There you are Haru," Makoto said as he entered the bathroom. He was looking much better today. He walked up to Haru and reached out his hand. "I find you like this a lot," he smiled.

Haru just nodded as he let Makoto pull him to a standing position and got out of the bathtub. He was glad to see Makoto was doing well though he'd never say it.

Mackerel was quickly made and eaten and before long, Haru and Makoto were on their way to school in a comfortable silence.

The classes went by in a slow pace. Haru only wanted the day to end as tomorrow could come and end and the following day could come and he could get rid of the plaster.

When lunch break finally came, signaling that half the day had passed, Haru just followed Makoto to the roof where Nagisa and Gou were waiting. Gou was apparently on the phone because as soon as they arrived she started speaking quickly.

"We'll discuss it later," she said. "He's here, I've got to go," then she hung up and put the device aside.

"Hey Nagisa, Gou. Where's Rei?" Makoto asked as he and Haru sat down with the two mentioned.

Nagisa looked up. "Rei-chan's sick," he said with a saddened look.

"I hope I didn't infect him…" Makoto mumbled. "What I came down with was pretty bad…"

"Was that the same as me?" Nagisa asked curiously. He had had no contact with Makoto at all from the day when he and Haru had come to visit, until this lunch break.

"I think so…" Makoto said. "At least it seemed that way,"

"Then I feel bad for Rei-chan too," Nagisa answered. "It's no fun,"

Haru would bet all the mackerel in his freezer that it wasn't fun. He was just glad he didn't show any signs of coming down with anything as well.

"Who were you on the phone with?" Makoto asked Gou.

Gou looked awkwardly at Makoto before answering. "Just an old friend I ran into in town last weekend…" She then pulled out her phone. "I think she's texting me…" She started typing.

Moments later Makoto looked at his phone and nodded in silence. "Haru, could we have sushi tonight for dinner?" he asked.

Haru shrugged. "It takes time preparing…" he said.

"You can just go on and skip practice. It's not like you're participating in anything so it should be fine," Makoto said. "I was thinking that we could also invite my family over, just for fun,"

Haru shrugged again. "I'm not that good at making sushi," he said.

"Then tomorrow night?" Makoto asked. "Then you decide what we'll have,"

Haru nodded at this. It wasn't like he minded.

"Good," Makoto smiled and this was when Haru got suspicious. Who had Gou been on the phone with and what was so important that he would need to leave before practice just for the sake of dinner? Why did Makoto's family even had to visit him for dinner when they'd never been at his place before? The only one who had was Makoto himself.

Haru never had his questions answered, mostly because he didn't ask. Somehow he knew that he would know the answer in time for whatever they were planning.

After school Haru went shopping alone while Makoto went to practice. Haru thought that maybe it was also good that they could practice without him on the sidelines. It would cause Makoto much less worry and they could be in the water all three in the same time without having to think about Haru getting into the pool. Oh wait, that's' right… Rei wasn't there.

Haru walked home and started preparing the sushi as well as possible. He really wasn't good at it so he didn't make it often.

A knock on the door was heard as Haru nearly finished making the sushi. He didn't answer. There was no reason to. He for one, didn't want to be interrupted, two if it was Makoto, he'd just let himself in within a few seconds.

It turned out it was the latter. Makoto's voice was heard moments later as he entered Haru's house.

"I'm coming in Haru!" he called.

Haru said nothing to this as Makoto entered the kitchen. He also did nothing when Makoto took out plates and prepared to lay the table. He would've needed that anyway. Makoto knew. That was why he did it.

"What's with you all?" Haru asked not directly to Makoto but there was no one else in the house.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked as he got back after laying the table. Haru turned then and placed two plates of sushi in Makoto's hands that he couldn't carry on his own with only one hand.

"Nothing…" Haruka mumbled. He hadn't got the information he wanted, but at least, now he knew that they were hiding whatever it was from him. That meant that he were to pretend nothing was going on around him.

This was the reason why Haru didn't like surprises very much. He would always have to act because people were just that bad at hiding it.

* * *

**I suck at keeping promises. I know. I promised this would be up yesterday, but truth is, I forgot about it and went and watched anime. The Thursday chapter (next chapter) will be out on time I promise. **

**This is all for now**

**Jackie**


	21. Thursday - September 18th

**Thursday - September 18th**

* * *

Today was the day. Today was the day that Haru had been longing for, ever since he got his wrist wrapped up in that stupid plaster. Today was the day when he would finally get rid of it for good and would never get to see it again. For the first time in forever he really looking forward to something so much that he had almost no patience left.

Makoto noticed this as soon as the both of them woke up. Haru finished everything much quicker than usual and there was something in his eyes that made Makoto understand this was going to be special. He hated that he had to break the excitement for Haru.

"Haru… We aren't going to the hospital right away…" Makoto started as Haru was making mackerel. "We're gonna have to wait until school is over,"

Haru's blue eyes had a sad look to them when they met Makoto's green ones. He couldn't believe it. More waiting!

"I'm sorry…" Makoto said.

"I guess it can't be helped," Haru just said as he turned back to his food. None of them said a word after that but the mood had gotten much heavier after this little conversation.

* * *

Haru could barely even pay any attention to class. He was thinking about how nice it would feel to get the plaster off all the way and that made it next to impossible to focus on what their teachers were talking about.

Lunch break came and Haru followed right behind Makoto all the way to the spot where they usually met with Nagisa, Rei and Gou. They were already there waiting for them.

"Is it off yet?" Gou asked enthusiastically as she met Haru's eyes.

Haru only exchanged a quick look with Makoto before sitting down. He didn't want to answer the question and Makoto could do it as well.

"He won't get it off until this afternoon," Makoto answered.

Somehow Haru thought that Gou and the others looked relieved to hear those news. He didn't understand why though but he got a clue it had something to do with whatever they were hiding.

"How did it go last night?" Rei asked for how dinner had went with the rest of Makoto's family.

"It went fine," Makoto answered. "Though we ended up eating at my place anyway since Ren and Ran were on a fieldtrip yesterday and came home late,"

"I see," Nagisa smiled, "fieldtrips makes everyone tired,"

"When was the last time you were on one Nagisa-kun?" Rei asked.

Nagisa thought about that for a bit. "Back at the beginning of 5th grade I think," he answered.

They continued the discussion of fieldtrips the rest of the lunch break and then went back to their afternoon classes that went the same way for Haru as the morning classes had.

When the classes finished Haru struggled to hide exactly how much he looked forward to having the plaster taken off. It went well too. The only one who saw right through him was Makoto as usual. But what else would you expect from someone who you've known as long as you can remember?

Makoto went with Haru to the hospital. It was never something they agreed on, it was just considered natural since Makoto had been by Haru's side through so much of it.

There were one who needed to get in before them and therefore Haru and Makoto had to sit and wait for a while before the doctor was ready for them. Haru thought the 20 minutes had lasted half a year when the door opened and the doctor who'd put on the plaster called out into the room:

"Nanase Haruka?"

Haru stood and quickly walked up to the doctor. Makoto struggled a bit to keep up with him at this point and the doctor smiled as he let the both of them into the room. He signaled to both boys to take a seat and sat down in another chair behind a desk. He looked at a computer screen.

"It was a broken wrist wasn't it?" he looked up at Haru who nodded. "You got the plaster on August 18th and were to keep it on for a month," The doctor continued and Haru nodded to this as well. "You've had it replaced twice during this month because you got it wet?" This was once again a question and Haru nodded again to confirm that it was true.

"Does that matter?" Makoto asked.

"We'll see," the doctor answered before meeting Haru's eyes. "Here's what we'll do Nanase-kun. I'll take off the plaster and then we'll scan your wrist to see exactly how the bone is doing. If it has healed completely, you can leave. If it hasn't, you'll have to get another plaster and we'll discuss for how long you'll have to keep it on," the doctor explained this before he stood up.

It didn't take long to get the plaster off. The scanning was a much different story though. Haru and Makoto sat and waited anxiously as the doctor collected the results.

"I really hope it has healed," Makoto said out through the room.

Haru just nodded. _Me too, _he thought.

The doctor just then returned. Makoto and Haru both looked at his face, trying to read the result from his expression, however his face was as expressionless as Haru's on a regular day, so none of them got any clues from that.

"What's the result?" Makoto finally broke the silence in the room.

The doctor couldn't keep it in any longer and his face broke into a kind smile as he looked at the two. "Nanase-kun, your wrist has healed nicely. You won't need to come back here because of it," He said.

Makoto's face too broke into a smile while only the corner of Haru's lips curled up a tiny bit. His eyes were shining with joy though.

"However," the doctor continued causing both smiles to fade. "Your wrist is weak as a result of it not being able to do anything for so long, so the rule about straining it still applies. If you feel any pain in it, you will know it's a sign for you to rest, be aware of that for the next month or so. There is a risk that the bone can break again if you strain it so I suggest you listen,"

Haru nodded. He'd understood. He won't want to break his wrist again for anything.

"Is that all?" Makoto asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes," he answered. "You can go now,"

Both boys stood and walked towards the door at this point. Makoto thanked the doctor and Haru nodded to show his gratitude as well.

"Be careful out there," the doctor told them as the door shut behind the boys.

As they left the hospital Haru felt freer than ever before. He felt like he could do anything right now and he was light with happiness. It wasn't noticeable in the way he was walking or the expression on his face. But Makoto could sense it, and on his face it was visible. He was so happy for Haru that things had gone so well.

* * *

**Jessie Kurosaki: It can't be helped that you don't have time to comment. I fully understand that and I don't expect for anyone to be able to comment on everything. but it's really thoughtful of you though. Thanks a lot.**

**All this aside. Haru is a happy man. There is a final chapter of course so stay tuned! See you next**

**Jackie**


	22. Friday - September 19th

**Friday - September 19th**

* * *

_Why is everyone acting so strange?_ Haruka asked himself as he followed Makoto down the hallway towards their classroom after one of the strangest lunch breaks he had had in a while.

It wasn't like anything special had happened. It was actually the opposite. Nothing special had happened. You would think that Nagisa would be more cheerful than usual or that Rei would say or do something but none of them said anything. The only one who spoke was Makoto and all he did was create awkward conversations while the two 2nd years exchanged looks from time to time. Gou was acting strange too. She participated in Makoto's awkward conversations at first, but then her phone went off and after seeing the caller ID she ran off and didn't come back.

"Makoto, what's with everyone today?" Haru asked the taller boy in front of him as they entered the classroom.

"What's with who today?" Makoto was obviously snapped out of his own thoughts. Or was that just an act? Somehow Haru couldn't tell.

Haru shook his head. He didn't want to repeat himself or explain it. Either Makoto would figure it out or it was a secret that Haru couldn't know about yet. He hoped it was the former.

"Haru?" Makoto asked. "You are coming for practice today aren't you?"

Haru nodded.

Makoto smiled. He then sat down and waited for their teacher to come. Haru did the same while wondering why Makoto had asked like that. It should be obvious that he would be there for practice.

Classes went on and the end of the school day neared. The last class they had today was art. This was when Haru remembered that he had a project he had to turn in, now that his wrist was healed. So after class Haru walked up to his teacher and handed in the picture.

"Your wrist is healed up, Nanase-kun?" the teacher asked as he looked at Haru's project.

Haru just nodded at this. It should be obvious since he was turning back the project.

"That's good to know," the teacher smiled at Haru. He was used to the silence. "We've all missed your unique style," he said.

Haru doubted that his style was as unique as the teacher wanted it to seem, but he said nothing. If the teacher wanted to believe he was that good, then what could he do to stop him?

Haru received a text as he left the classroom. When opening it, he noticed it was from Makoto who hadn't waited for him for a change.

* * *

_Makoto:_

_Where are you Haru? We're waiting for you._

* * *

Haru only took a second to ask himself why they would be waiting for him. Though he decided that he would find out if he went to the pool, so that was what he did.

Haru thought it strange that there were nobody in the changing room when he entered. He changed quickly, paying no mind to all the extra clothes that were taking up extra space or the mess on the floor of shoes and bags that he didn't recognize.

It was also silent around Haru while he made his way to the pool and he wondered why. Why would it be so silent? Makoto did tell him to come didn't he? Well, if nobody were there, that meant Haru would have the pool all to himself. That won't be so bad.

Haru only managed to take one step into the pool area when he was hit in the head with a towel as it blocked his vision.

"Hey Haru!" Rin called. "Why'd you keep us waiting?"

Haru removed the towel as he could see again, and noticed that the members of Samezuka's relay team were all there, along with Haru's own teammates, Gou, Sasabe and Amakata-sensei.

"What is this?" Haru looked at Makoto letting his confusion show.

"Remember that Nagisa talked about a pool party?" Makoto asked and Haru nodded to this. "Well, we decided that it was the best way to celebrate that you'd gotten the plaster off and invited everyone we could think of would be interested," Makoto finished explaining while sending Haru a warm smile. "We've planned it all week," he finished.

The corner of Haru's lips curled up into a smile. His friends had managed to amaze him. He'd never expected they would do anything like this just for him, let alone even thought about it.

"So go on, Haru-chan!" Nagisa cheered. "Dive in!"

Haru didn't give anyone time to repeat those words. He ran to the pool, full speed, and jumped into the cool water. He surfaced and let himself float around in the water for a while, just feeling his body becoming one with the water. It was really relaxing. It felt even better than he remembered.

A splash was heard and before Haru knew it, Rin was swimming by him. "Let's race, Haru!" he said and Haru – who had been lying on his back so far – turned in the water and started swimming after Rin, doing his best to catch up.

Little by little everyone else followed into the pool and soon there was no more room for racing as everyone started to splash water on each other.

Haruka had never felt so happy and free in this past month as he did right now, with his friends, reunited with his beloved water. The happiness he felt only grew stronger from the happiness of his friends around him.

* * *

**This is the final, and also the last longer story from here until after summer break. I do have another story nearly finished, but it's so long I can't finish publishing even if I publish a chapter once a day. **

**In June keep an eye out for a oneshot called Biology and a longer story which will be published by the end of July called Free Parenting.**

**Also for those of you who also like Fairy Tail (just the manga/anime, not necessarily the fandom) There are two crossovers I've written. There is a Haruvia story called Reckless in love, but for those of you who are not into that there is this one: Haruka and the Mermaid Heel.**

**That's all, leave some final reviews if you feel like it, favorite too if you want. I appreciate that you've read this. **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed**

**Jessie Kurosaki, ****Noah03, ****Adri-Swan and ****JoeFandome**

**And everyone who favorited**

**Beeji, Ice Cream Freak, JaneKirishima, Jessie Kurosaki, JoeFandome,Otakugrams, Redhead Nerdette, . and love everything girl**

**It has been great writing this story. Hopefully I'll see you soon.**

**Jackie**


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